One month into the 2018 season, some familiar trends already are developing in the national standings, especially among trainers. Steve Asmussen is setting the pace, with Bob Baffert and Chad Brown near the top, both of them just warming up.

Welcome to the first Saturday in February. Let the madness begin. For the next four months, true believers in the racing game will spend most of their time worshipping at the altar of the Triple Crown. All roads lead to Louisville, where a garland of roses and a white puff of smoke will announce the chosen one, then it will be on to Baltimore for validation. Beyond that, the faithful can only hope for a pilgrimage to New York, and the chance for another Triple Crown winner to save the sport anew.

It is a common conceit of human nature that we think we know what animals are thinking. But, in the case of Chris Baker and Gun Runner, we’ll give him a pass.

Baker has been part of the Gun Runner story from the beginning, from his conception to his birth to his yearling romps in a Kentucky field. It was fitting, then, that Baker was there to greet Gun Runner as the chestnut stallion arrived in Lexington on Sunday afternoon at Blue Grass Airport, bound for Three Chimneys Farm and his new career.

We saw something rare in Gun Runner’s decisive victory in Saturday’s Pegasus World Cup at Gulfstream. And no, I’m not talking about a horse winning from an outside post going 1 1/8 miles on that main track, although Gun Runner did manage to pull that off, too.

No, what I’m getting at is, we saw a true big-time, top-class race horse in Gun Runner conclude his racing career with the two best performances of his life in the races that were intended to be his final starts.

First, a pop quiz:

How much is the Arc de Triomphe worth? What does the winner of the Epsom Derby take home? What is the name of the richest race in Australia? And who said, “When somebody says it’s not about the money, it’s about the money”?

The Pegasus World Cup, which is all about the money, will be run for the second time Saturday afternoon at Gulfstream Park, where its owner, The Stronach Group, has pulled out the promotional stops to dress up a nine-furlong race in January far beyond its station.

Looming tall among the outsiders in the field for the Pegasus World Cup at Gulfstream Park on Saturday is Giant Expectations. That’s “giant” as in his sire, Frost Giant, and “expectations,” as in what were dashed after he left the stage with a health scare that offered no guarantees he would ever see a starting gate again, let alone come back to win races like the Grade 2 Pat O’Brien last summer and the Grade 2 San Antonio on Dec. 26.

“He’s got a lot of heart, that’s for sure,” said Ryan Exline, who owns the 5-year-old in partnership with Justin Border.

Well, at least it will sound different.

Nick Luck and his spotless elocution will be at the helm of the 47th Eclipse Awards dinner at Gulfstream Park on Thursday evening, when the two-legged representatives of the industry enjoy their annual orgy of back-patting while the real stars of the show languish in the barns.

Luck will be the first non-American (as opposed to un-American) Eclipse emcee in the history of the event, unless you count Kenny Mayne, who was beamed here from another planet and turned his hosting of the awards into a edgy exercise in abstract expression.

This is an important week in horse racing. Thursday night is the Eclipse Awards dinner at Gulfstream Park, where the 2017 champions of our sport will be revealed. And on Saturday, the world’s richest horse race – the $16 million Pegasus World Cup – will be run at Gulfstream.

Unfortunately, the biggest drama this week might not involve the Eclipse Awards or the running of the Pegasus. Instead, the biggest drama of the week might well be the post-position draw for the Pegasus on Wednesday.

This is a quiet weekend in the sport, with only one graded stakes event troubling the North American schedule, and most of the country praying for a thaw. What better time to spin the globe to find out what’s cooking in the rest of the horse racing universe.

First stop – Argentina.

On Tuesday night in London, the crème de la crème of the European racing world will convene to compare jewelry and honor the winners of the Longines awards for the World’s Best Racehorse and the World’s Best Horse Race of 2017.