diff --git a/activerecord/CHANGELOG b/activerecord/CHANGELOG
index 3696d08e62f254cf7a0cb7f1132dd118b52e2c3f..2cb721b1a22b14dc8eb3e9968572fd6e913c03ea 100644
--- a/activerecord/CHANGELOG
+++ b/activerecord/CHANGELOG
@@ -1,5 +1,7 @@
 *SVN*
 
+* Make .count work for has_many associations with multi line finder sql [schoenm@earthlink.net]
+
 * Add AR::Base.base_class for querying the ancestor AR::Base subclass [Jamis Buck]
 
 * Allow configuration of the column used for optimistic locking [wilsonb@gmail.com]
diff --git a/activerecord/lib/active_record/associations/has_many_association.rb b/activerecord/lib/active_record/associations/has_many_association.rb
index 5a29ffaa30436575c3f9638513f16fdef44a9311..7d8f1c6b0c2290afb7fbe2fb5bcec32b364b4851 100644
--- a/activerecord/lib/active_record/associations/has_many_association.rb
+++ b/activerecord/lib/active_record/associations/has_many_association.rb
@@ -179,7 +179,8 @@ def construct_sql
           if @reflection.options[:counter_sql]
             @counter_sql = interpolate_sql(@reflection.options[:counter_sql])
           elsif @reflection.options[:finder_sql]
-            @reflection.options[:counter_sql] = @reflection.options[:finder_sql].gsub(/SELECT (.*) FROM/i, "SELECT COUNT(*) FROM")
+            # replace the SELECT clause with COUNT(*), preserving any hints within /* ... */
+            @reflection.options[:counter_sql] = @reflection.options[:finder_sql].sub(/SELECT (\/\*.*?\*\/ )?(.*)\bFROM\b/im) { "SELECT #{$1}COUNT(*) FROM" }
             @counter_sql = interpolate_sql(@reflection.options[:counter_sql])
           else
             @counter_sql = @finder_sql
diff --git a/activerecord/lib/active_record/associations/has_many_through_association.rb b/activerecord/lib/active_record/associations/has_many_through_association.rb
index 7233876a2d7b5b91265b169200a49f947dead580..d3b6707e36b3fa560f51e50a0464a399bad5f13f 100644
--- a/activerecord/lib/active_record/associations/has_many_through_association.rb
+++ b/activerecord/lib/active_record/associations/has_many_through_association.rb
@@ -107,7 +107,8 @@ def construct_sql
           if @reflection.options[:counter_sql]
             @counter_sql = interpolate_sql(@reflection.options[:counter_sql])
           elsif @reflection.options[:finder_sql]
-            @reflection.options[:counter_sql] = @reflection.options[:finder_sql].gsub(/SELECT (.*) FROM/i, "SELECT COUNT(*) FROM")
+            # replace the SELECT clause with COUNT(*), preserving any hints within /* ... */
+            @reflection.options[:counter_sql] = @reflection.options[:finder_sql].sub(/SELECT (\/\*.*?\*\/ )?(.*)\bFROM\b/im) { "SELECT #{$1}COUNT(*) FROM" }
             @counter_sql = interpolate_sql(@reflection.options[:counter_sql])
           else
             @counter_sql = @finder_sql