One morning last fall, jockey Jerry Bailey was summoned to the barn of Bobby Frankel. The champion trainer had told the champion jockey that he wanted him to work a horse. Bailey assumed his mount on that crisp autumn day at Belmont Park was to be Medaglia d'Oro. But he was in for a pleasant surprise.

Medaglia d'Oro, one of the best horses in training in America at the time, was indeed on the track that morning, and he was not alone. The star 3-year-old was to work in company with another thoroughbred from the Frankel barn. That was Bailey's mount -- the work mate -- a horse who Bailey would later describe as "brilliant" in that early a.m. drill.

What made this workout so extraordinary was that the horse Jerry rode that fall day was an unraced 2-year-old, a young son of Unbridled named Empire Maker.

"During the Saratoga meet, Bobby told me he had an unraced colt in his barn that he thought a lot of," Bailey remembers. "I saw him walk around the shedrow one day, but it was a complete surprise when Bobby told me that was who I was exercising that morning. And let me tell you, I was very impressed by the way this baby went head and head with the big horse."

The story was starting to go public. Nesides being fathered by the 1990 Kentucky Derby winner, Empire Maker's mother, a onetime Frankel trainee herself, was the sensational but headstrong and temperamental race mare, Toussaud. That made the students of the thoroughbred bloodlines immediately take note of the workout and watch for him in the entry box.

The date for his debut was decided: A one-mile maiden-special-weight event at Belmont Park on Oct. 20 of last year.

When it comes to a really good 2-year-old, the barn area of any racetrack in the world becomes an echo chamber. Everyone on the backside knew Empire Maker was a real runner -- and they bet their money.

He drew Post 12 in a 13-horse field, and went off at 45 cents on the dollar. The tipsters had done a good job of getting the word out.

Bailey said that Frankel had warned him that the family of this precious youngster had a history of pulling up once they got the lead. That is why Jerry did not really ask for much until he was inside the eighth pole. Racing in the middle of the track, Jerry glided to the lead and won by almost four lengths.

The second start was a different story. Six weeks later in the Grade 2 Remsen at Aqueduct, Empire Maker was fractious in the gate, broke poorly and had dirt kicked in his face. Bailey says, "I was behind the 8-ball before the Remsen was half over, so considering he managed to get third, and kept on fighting to the wire against some accomplished horses made me think he ran a pretty good race."

With the tough, rocky, rich and historic road ahead, Empire Maker was put away for the winter, but returned in a big way in January, posting bullet workouts at Hollywood Park.

Empire Maker made his 2003 debut in Feb. 7 Sham Stakes, a nine furlong jaunt at Santa Anita that was somewhat of a disappointment. "I thought he would learn a lot from the other two races," Bailey says. "Even though Bobby and I had discussed blinkers after the Remsen, we thought with time and maturity he might not need them. But he showed in the Sham he was still a little disinterested in what was happening in the race, and didn't give me 100 percent. The decision was made immediately after [the Sham] to put the blinkers on."

The blinkers worked, big time. Empire Maker's 9 3/4-length score in the March 15 Florida Derby made him the nearly unanimous favorite for this year's Run for the Roses.

Then came the Wood Memorial three weeks later. The reviews were mixed. Some critics say he was all out holding off Funny Cide; Some didn't like how he switched leads. Empire Maker, in the eyes of the these naysayers, hadn't proven anything in New York.

Don't listen to the doomsday group. This horse is the real deal, and he is being handled so that he runs his best race on Derby Day.

Handicapping the Derby is unlike any other puzzle of the year. Most punters are trying to see who ran the best, who has showed the most speed or class, or who can come back to their best prep. Forget that. Look ahead, and try to find the steed who will peak on Derby Day.

The fact that Jerry Bailey has stayed with the horse through two tough losses, proves to me that he and Bobby Frankel know the best is yet to come.

Get the blankets of roses, black-eyed susans and carnations ready. Pull out that three-cornered trophy that hasn't been used since Affirmed won it in 1978. And get ready for the most exciting, historic, and fun trio of spring classics in our lifetime.

Empire Maker will win the Triple Crown.