John's Call doesn't seem to understand what the fuss is all about. He's acting the same, he looks the same and he's spent much of the last few months just hanging out. He might not be impressed with himself but others are.

In Sunday's Cape Henlopen Handicap at Delaware Park, the chestnut gelding will begin the next chapter in what has become horse racing's most remarkable story. At the age of 10, John's Call will attempt to prove that he is every bit as good as he was last year when he won two Grade I stakes races, becoming the first horse to win at that level as a 9-year-old since the great John Henry. After the Cape Henlopen, a minor race that John's Call should win, he will go in the Sword Dancer, where he could become the first North American-based horse to win a Grade I event at age 10.

"It's unbelievable the whole thing, I can't explain it," his trainer, Tom Voss said.

Few can.

For most of his career, John's Call was a decent allowance level horse and even made a few starts in the claiming ranks and in steeplechase events. Through his 8-year-old season, he had earned $400,000, the hard way. But at an age when most horses have long since been retired, he rose to a new level last year, winning the Sword Dancer and the Turf Classic before finishing a game third in the Breeders' Cup Turf. During 2000, he earned $1,113,840, nearly tripling his previous earnings.

And while Voss is at a loss to rationalize how a horse can peak at age 9, his training methods are surely part of the answer. The Cape Henlopen will be John's Call's 37th career start, a paltry number considering his age. It will also be his first start since Nov. 26. Each winter he is given a lengthy break and allowed to rest up for his next campaign.

"That has to play a part in it," Voss said. "He doesn't go down to Florida and he doesn't race year round. For four or five months, he's turned out and then has three months of preparation for his first race. When he's back, I don't train him too hard."

He also goes through a unique training regimen. John's Call has developed a seasonal allergy to sunlight. Because of that, he gallops in a one-fifth of a mile indoor track. Once the allergy subsides, he moves outside, where he works on both dirt and turf tracks at Voss' Maryland farm.

The work has been done, the question now is whether or not John's Call can do it for one more year? Voss likes what he has seen so far.

"We took him to Colonial Downs to give him the kind of workout that would wake him up," Voss said. "He worked five-eighths in a minute breezing and galloped out in 1:13, and that's racehorse time, as far as I'm concerned. Mentally, he is the same as he ever was. He looks as good as he's ever looked. Mentally, he's sharp as he ever was. To look at him, you'd never know that he wasn't four or five. He's the same as he's ever been."

Even making it to a 10-year-old season is a remarkable feat. Fellow iron horses John Henry and Kelso didn't make it, neither did Forego. But Voss knows that, logically, John's Call has to take a step backward at some time. He can't help but wonder if this is the year.

"I wouldn't say I'm looking forward to this race," he said. "About this time, I start to fret.

You know it's going to end some day, I just don't know when. I don't think he's lost his competitive edge, but I think his body has to catch up to his some day. I'm cautiously, quietly optimistic."

The mile-and-a-half Cape Henlopen is nothing more than a first step. John's Call won the same race last year, which foreshadowed his surprising win in the Sword Dancer, which he won by 9 1/4 lengths. The Sword Dancer is run at Saratoga, where a lot of racing history has been made and a lot of great horses have competed. But never in the 137-year history of the place has a 10-year-old won a Grade I race.

"As far as I'm concerned, he's already accomplished enough," Voss said. "But for him to win another Grade I would no doubt be an added bonus It would be a wonderful thing."

Upon retirement, whenever that may be, John's Call will be given his just reward. Owner Douglas Joyce has said that the gelding will either be sent to his farm in the Nashville area or be allowed to hang out in the fields of Voss' picturesque Maryland farm. But, first, there is work to be done. After all, it's not how old you are, but how old you feel.