Frankel's only concern now is whether Aptitude can come back and duplicate this effort in the Classic.

"I only have three weeks to the Breeders' Cup," he said. "Now, if I had six weeks, I'd feel much better. Frankly, I didn't think he'd win this big, because I didn't train him real hard for the race. Sometimes, you don't want them to run too good before a big race. But hopefully he can come back and run close to this. I'll just try to get him there as fresh as possible."

With so many live horses for the World Thoroughbred Championships, Frankel is hopeful this is the year his losing streak comes to an end. "Obviously, I feel good about how we're going into it, but I still got to win one," he said. "Talking about and doing it are two different things."

And how appropriate to do it in New York, where he was born and raised. It was nearly 30 years ago that the brash, young trainer, known as the "King of the Claimers," took off for California. Now he looks to return three decades later the conquering hero. The Brooklyn-born Frankel has come a long way since quitting C.W. Post College on Long Island after the very first day of school. All he loved was gambling at the racetrack. He asked himself, "What am I doing here?" Not having an answer, he left and began working a variety of jobs, from margin clerk on Wall Street to construction work, putting up rock lath. In his construction job, he got off work at noon, headed to the track, and hasn't looked back since.

Now he has a big chance to dominate racing's biggest day and take home the $4-million Breeders' Cup Classic. Nothing would give him more satisfaction than to do it with the diminutive Aptitude, with whom he's worked so hard over the past year.