Of all the thorny questions dividing the nation -- Obama or Romney, Phillip or Jessica, one-piece or two – nothing seems to stir the emotions quite like the rampant speculation over the potential impact of what could be the first Triple Crown winner in 34 years.

Alicia Wincze Hughes of the Lexington Herald Leader warns against assuming that a Triple Crown winner will solve racing’s ills, but does hold out the hope that, “Should I’ll Have Another take the Triple Crown and remain in training for the months ahead, the sport could have a marketing dynamo on its hands.”

Jack Whitaker does not want to sound greedy. After all, having turned 88 on the day before this year’s Preakness, there already had been 10 Triple Crown winners in his lifetime. But then, when I’ll Have Another came through the following afternoon to beat Bodemeister in their Pimlico thriller, Whitaker let his mind wander through the memories of Triple Crowns past and figured it was high time to do it again.

When I’ll Have Another attempts to win the Belmont Stakes on June 9 and capture the Triple Crown, he must do more than defeat a formidable group of opponents. He must overcome history.

BALTIMORE - I’ll Have Another came into the Preakness facing one of the toughest possible tactical situations in racing. His most formidable rival, Bodemeister, was the solitary front-runner in the field and would be able to control the pace as his jockey dictated. That’s usually a formula for victory whether the scenario develops in a maiden race or the second leg of the Triple Crown.

On paper, the 137th Preakness is a four-horse race, a rematch among the 1-2-4-5 finishers in the Kentucky Derby. Those who finished farther back at Churchill Downs did so without any apparent excuse, and the new shooters in the field of 11 look hopelessly overmatched. So the question facing handicappers is whether the Derby established a clear pecking order among the top four Derby returnees, who were separated by only three lengths at the finish, or whether the race might unfold differently enough to jumble the order of finish from Louisville.

When I’ll Have Another defeated Bodemeister in the Kentucky Derby, many handicappers (including me) thought it was obvious that the loser had run the better race after setting an extraordinarily fast pace.

After I’ll Have Another won the Kentucky Derby two weeks ago, stories appeared about several people who had bet him at 200-1 in the future books here in Nevada.

Items ran in the Las Vegas Sun, USA Today, and Sports Illustrated. But remember you read it here first (or at least I hope you did) before the race in the Derby Day issue on Saturday, May 5.

In his pre-race analysis of the 138th Kentucky Derby, for both his students at the North American Racing Academy and his own gambling pleasure, retired Hall of Famer and two-time Derby winner Chris McCarron liked Bodemeister, Sabercat, Gemologist, and Union Rags in a four-horse exacta box. He conceded that Santa Anita Derby winner I’ll Have Another had a shot, but he tossed him anyway. Why?

The Pimlico Special used to be just that – special. Few American races for older horses can boast such an entertaining history. The Seabiscuit-War Admiral match race. The Citation walkover. The showdown between older champ Stymie and Triple Crown winner Assault.

Ancient history, granted, played out in black and white, all grainy, with the men wearing hats and smoking Chesterfields. Then came living color, and the Special glowed, helping make the case for Horse of the Year when it was won by Criminal Type, Cigar, Skip Away, Mineshaft, and Invasor.

On the Monday morning following the Kentucky Derby, still wiped out and hoarse from cheering home I’ll Have Another, Paul Reddam sat down to a series of meetings with fund managers in the financial district of New York.

Some of them were not impressed.