Frankel (right) and jockey Jerry Bailey after their win in Saturday's Derby Trial at Churchill Downs.

Why should the Kentucky Derby be any different? He has the best horse, and maybe the second best horse to boot, everything has gone perfectly for him all winter and spring through the preps and he has the extra incentive of wanting to win the one major racing prize that has escaped him. He doesn't make mistakes. Nothing ever goes wrong. His horses run like machines.

He will win the Kentucky Derby because horse racing is Bobby Frankel's world and everyone else is just living in it. He will win the Kentucky Derby because he has expertly prepared his horses. He will win the Kentucky Derby because Empire Maker is a very good horse. He will win the Kentucky Derby because Bobby Frankel wins everything. It's really that simple.

He has won the Eclipse Award three straight years as the nation's best trainer and is just getting stronger and better all the time. The old Frankel was a good trainer who won a lot of grass races with European imports, didn't seem that interested in the Triple Crown races and had that ugly Breeders' Cup record to defend. The new Frankel wins with every type of horse, even the occasional 2-year-old, has won a couple of Breeders' Cup races and is poised to win a Kentucky Derby.

"You try to do what is right for the horse and when it works out you put it in your memory bank," he said. "Then it's like a snowball effect. Once you start doing well, everybody starts sending you good horses. I get a lot of good horses to train."

He has 90 horses in training and estimates that 66 or 67 of them are stakes horses. His empire won 117 races in 2002, 60 of them stakes. The stable earned $17,748,340, falling just shy of Lukas' record for most money earned in a single year. The numbers are hard to top, but it's very possible Frankel will do just that, maybe even this year.

Through April 27, his stable has won 34 races on the year, 17 of them stakes, and it has earned $5,419,234. The potential for what he can accomplish the rest of the way is staggering. In Medaglia D'oro and Empire Maker, he has the two best horses in the country. In Empire Maker, Peace Rules and Midas Eyes, he may have the three best 3-year-olds in training. With horses like Milwaukee Brew, Lilac Queen, Megahertz and Aldebaran, he has racing's best bench. This year, he will add another dimension. For the first time in his career, he'll be well-stocked with good 2-year-olds.

"I've got some new clients who are giving me younger horses to train," he said. "All of a sudden, I'm a 2-year-old trainer. I'll have about 15 2-year-olds at Saratoga. I could have had 100. I was pigeon-holed as a grass trainer, so nobody ever gave me 2-year-olds. In some ways, I haven't changed. I'm still not going to run them too early. One race I do not want to win is the Breeders' Cup Juvenile."

That's the approach he took with Empire Maker, who didn't make his first start until Oct. 20. There was the hitch when he lost the Remsen and was second at 2-5 in the Sham Stakes, but, since, Frankel has pushed all the right buttons. Empire Maker may not win, but it won't be because he is another Arazi. There is nothing phony about this horse. When it comes to the Kentucky Derby, his credentials are perfect.

So here he is, bedded down at Churchill Downs all ready to go with the heavy favorite. Frankel is not pretending it is just another race. He has been honest in expressing his genuine desire to win it while admitting he has been jealous of trainers like Bob Baffert and Wayne Lukas, who are always swarming around the Kentucky Derby winner's circle.

The Kentucky Derby is his one last challenge. To win it, would put the period on the end of the sentence that says Bobby Frankel is the very best that there is and no one else is close. A loss would leave a hole in his record. He is confident that won't happen. And who can blame him?