First impressions are important, but last impressions linger. Years from now, little children will be regaled with tales of Tom Durkin’s swan song at Saratoga, of Zenyatta’s farewell parade at Santa Anita, of Hollywood Park’s final program last winter, when fans packed the stands for one last look at the historic track, then grabbed as many souvenirs as they could on the way out.

When Mark Reid saddled his last horse in 2000, he had accumulated 1,674 wins in a career that began when he worked under Dickie Dutrow in Maryland not long after graduating from the University of Maryland in the early 1970s. Reid’s best year was 1992, when he won 216 races. He had the multiple graded stakes-winning sprinter Mr. Nickerson while training mostly out of Garden State Park and Philadelphia Park, with successful forays into New York and more than a few summers at Saratoga.

It seems almost quaint, dealing with 3-year-olds on the grass when there is such an exciting mix of main-track performers roaming the land. California Chrome, Wicked Strong, and Shared Belief are trending like mad. But Adelaide? Mr Speaker? Not so much, and once past the midsummer Secretariat Stakes at Arlington Park, there’s no real buzz to the division, in national terms, unless a couple of them break out to meet their elders.

If Tiger Woods can be paid $3 million for simply teeing off in a Turkish golf tournament, as he was last November, who could possibly have any problem with the owners and trainer of Derby-Preakness winner California Chrome carving up $200,000 in appearance fees for running in the $1 million Pennsylvania Derby on Sept. 20? Perhaps a quote from a dozen years ago will clear the air:

“There’s nothing illegal about it, and nothing was done under the table. It’s business, right? It’s the American way.”

As any schoolchild knows, every 3-year-old since 1978 who won both the Kentucky Derby and Preakness failed to win the Belmont Stakes and complete the Triple Crown. But did you know there’s an even longer streak regarding the winners of the first two legs of the Triple Crown?

James Jerkens, son of the legendary Giant Killer, still has a few things to learn from the old man. Like, for instance, if you’re going to slay a giant, make sure the giant in question comes from another barn.

When Allen Jerkens toppled stars like Kelso, Buckpasser, and Secretariat with horses named Beau Purple, Handsome Boy, and Onion, he made sure some other trainer took the hit. When V. E. Day upset Wood Memorial and Jim Dandy Stakes winner Wicked Strong in the Travers Stakes last Saturday, it was the same Jimmy Jerkens on both ends of the close photo.

“I miss Shared Belief.”

That was my opening line from a late-February column when it was becoming obvious that the 2-year-old champion was not going to make it back in time for the Kentucky Derby.

Last Sunday at Del Mar, Shared Belief showed everybody just what we missed in May and June. Even as I jumped on the California Chrome bandwagon when he dominated in the San Felipe Stakes a few days after I had written that column, I never forgot about Shared Belief.

The Pennsylvania Derby was run on Labor Day from 1990 to 2009, a nice race for 3-year-olds that had very little national juice. It was too close to the Travers and too far from the Breeders’ Cup to attract the best horses in the division.

Prior to that 20-year stint on Labor Day, the Pennsylvania Derby had first been run on Memorial Day from 1979-84 and then in mid-September, late September, or early October from 1985-89.

Shared Belief was prancing around the Del Mar walking ring the other day acting like he was 3 years old, which he is, when he decided to plant his feet and stare into the shadows of a saddling stall. There, Game On Dude lolled peacefully, an older gent at one with the moment, thinking more about his next meal and a nap than his title defense of the $1 million Pacific Classic three days hence.

It is said that horses do not have particularly acute vision. Fair enough. But after what he has experienced this season, even an ocularly challenged Toast of New York must be looking around this week wondering where the tour bus has taken him now.

Departing his home ground in Upper Lambourn, England, his first stop this year was the Middle East, where he enjoyed the splendors of Meydan Racecourse in Dubai and rewarded his keepers with an unambiguous victory in the $2 million UAE Derby.