Yes, I'll admit the races with larger purses such as the Bosselman/Gus Fonner, The Dowd Mile, or the Budweiser/Tondi bring out bigger names racing at longer distances, but for sure break-neck speed going 40 mph in less than a minute, nothing on Fonner's calendar tops the Grasmick for my money.

The excitement of seeing the best sprinters on the grounds dueling in the one-turn, four-furlong event is surely the best 45 seconds of the meeting. Forty-five seconds that have enriched my personal memory bank with the image of late afternoon February days meeting with the anticipation that lightning in a bottle is about to spring forth from the gate.

The roll call of past champions of the race is indeed impressive with such burners as Bold Accent, No Pomp, Marvelous Liz, R.C. Mr. Hay Boy, and Lukfata Louis on the race's honor roll.

Two horses in particular have made their presence felt in this race in the last two decades. I'm talking of course of eight-time champion Leaping Plum trained by Joe Moss, and current defending champion Tonight Rainbow, who will try to win his fourth Grasmick on Saturday.

Count Tonight Rainbow's trainer Boyd Caster in as a big fan of Leaping Plum.

"I just adored Leaping Plum from the word go," Caster said. "Joe Moss did a heckuva job keeping 'The Plum' a star for so long, I only hope Rainbow is still running as well at age 12, as Leaping Plum did when we ran behind him."

You can count me in on the Leaping Plum bandwagon as well, In fact, I was there at the beginning of his Grasmick success.

Studying the racing form before the race back in 1995, I became enamored of Leaping Plum having competed in a two-furlong stakes race at Cleveland's Thistledowns, and correctly selected him to win at decent odds.

What's in store for this year's Grasmick? Will we see a fourth title for Tonight Rainbow, or will there be a new name added to the 25 thoroughbred stars that have captured Fonner's one-turn spring championship?

We'll know in about 45 seconds on Saturday.

I'll be there once again relishing the pure speed of the race, playing it over in my own personal memory bank, until we do it all over again next year.