Will victories over a synthetic surface in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile and either the Breeders' Futurity, Norfolk or Del Mar Futurity merit a national championship over dominating scores in the Hopeful and Champagne?

Many horses like Wanderin Boy go through their entire career overlooked by the fans and media. They're always dependable, showing up in many of the grade I stakes, and while they turn in huge efforts at times, they're just not able to get to the finish line first and make that leap into the big-time.

Thoroughbred racing has always been confined to its own small world, safe and protected from the tumultuous events that surround it. There have been individual stars that have transcended the sport and reached out to touch mainstream America. But never before had the Sport of Kings been woven into the often tattered fabric of history.

A look at the leading North American sires list shows Tiznow ranked No. 2 and Giant's Causeway No. 3. What else is new? They wouldn't have it any other way.

It's a little before 6 a.m. Although the sun is beginning to rise back home, Lexington, Ky. is still dark. Outside my window at Old Friends, there is a sprawling network of paddocks, housing a number of top-class stakes winners and champions and some not not-so-well-known horses.

June 19, 2003 was a warm, humid day in Stockton, California, with a brisk 20 mile-an-hour-wind. The fourth race on the card, a $12,500 maiden claiming race for 2-year-olds, had no particular meaning, and you can bet no one paid any attention whatsoever to the fourth-place finisher -- a 35-1 shot named Lava Man, who was racing for his owner, breeder, and trainer Lonnie Arterburn, along with several partners.

Actually, I have nothing concrete to back that up other than a line from a movie. And it sounded like a good head. But, really, when Jess Jackson opened the door after the Woodward, saying he's going to have trainers like Dick Mandella keep him informed about the Santa Anita surface, it gave racing fans a ray of hope that maybe it could happen.

As we approach the seventh anniversary of 9/11, I thought, rather than rehash how one of the most cataclysmic events in American history affected the racing world, I would reprint a story I wrote of my visit to Belmont Park four days later on Sept. 15 in order to recapture the atmosphere and the emotions that prevailed at the time, as well my own observations and feelings.

I just returned from Saratoga and another Travers Stakes. It is this annual pilgrimage to the mecca of racing that makes me briefly forget all the problems the sport is facing and remember the way it used to be.

The morning of the Kentucky Derby, in a corner of Barn 43, all was right with the world. Larry and Cindy Jones were still beaming over the impressive victory of Proud Spell in the previous day's Kentucky Oaks. Their African Gray parrot, Buddy, was whistling up a storm outside his cage in the office. Proud Spell was having her picture taken with several visitors. And in the next stall, Eight Belles was awaiting her chance at history in the Run for the Roses.

This is about the three choices for Big Brown's prep for the Breeders' Cup Classic -- an undetermined grass race at Belmont Park, the Goodwood Stakes at Santa Anita, or the Clement Hirsch Turf Championship at Santa Anita the same day.

With many of our top 3-year-olds being retired and deprived of a 4- or 5-year-old campaign, and with so many major races taking place on synthetic surfaces, you have to wonder what the horse of tomorrow will be like; the ones the fans all over the country will get to see run and become familiar with on a long-term basis.

I don't know how I feel anymore. I hate to become too wrapped up in all this Curlin vs. Big Brown banter and then have it all become moot when they go their separate ways. If it turns out to be nothing but idle chatter, then what good did it do other than provide us with amusement or indignation, depending on how you reacted to it?

How many times have you heard the expression, "No one would have beaten him today?" Throughout history, there have been numerous horses who, for one or two races, turned in performances so extraordinary, you can't imagine anyone beating them.

These are the horses and stories that stir our souls and reach deep into our heart...and remain there. Horses like Commentator, Evening Attire, Better Talk Now, The Tin Man, and Perfect Drift -- just to name a few -- are the ones who feel like old friends. The longer they stay around the longer they amaze us with their youthful exuberance.