Numbers can’t define greatness, but they can confirm it. I didn’t really need to see American Pharoah run a giant Beyer Speed Figure to be convinced of what I had been watching all year, but I admit to being pleased with the 120 he earned in the Breeders’ Cup Classic. It was, more than anything, a validation.

Jimmy Barnes sat in a chilly tack room in a dark corner of Barn 62 at Keeneland’s training center last Saturday, leaning back in a camp chair, his hands stuffed deep in the pockets of a down vest.

“Sad to see him go? Are you kidding? No way,” he said in answer to a visitor’s question. “In fact, I’m jealous. I’d love to be retiring like him.”

“Him,” of course, was American Pharoah, at that moment lolling quietly in a nearby stall with his racing gear hung on the webbing, an hour or so from his final start in the Breeders’ Cup Classic.

As American Pharoah made the final stretch run of his career, drawing away from his pursuers at Keeneland, he gave most racing fans what they wanted to see: the performance that certified his place in history. He was already the first colt in 37 years to capture the Triple Crown. Now he was the first to win those three tests plus the nation’s definitive championship race, the Breeders’ Cup Classic. People who witnessed the feat cannot expect to see it duplicated in their lifetimes.

LEXINGTON, Ky. - Bob Baffert said in the post-race Breeders’ Cup Classic press conference that, “We can’t be afraid to run these horses.”

We, all of us in this great game, owe Baffert and the Zayat family a tremendous debt of gratitude for this philosophy.

It would have been the easiest thing in the world for them to retire American Pharoah after he completed his historic Triple Crown. Instead, they shared him with us.

American Pharoah’s final race, the Breeders’ Cup Classic, was supposed to be the test that measures how great a horse he may be. He has already earned a place in history by sweeping the Triple Crown, dominating a 3-year-old crop of average quality.

The great final acts in sports are unpredictable. Ted Williams could have doubled off the wall in his last time at bat. Instead, he hit one in the seats. Johnny Longden was going to retire at age 59 no matter what happened in his last ride. Then he won the San Juan Capistrano by a nose. And when Michael Jordan played his final game with the Bulls in 1998, you figured they’d give him the ball, but he didn’t have to sink the game winner against the Jazz that gave Chicago the NBA crown. Nice shot.

So, what Beyer Speed Figure is it going to take to win the Breeders’ Cup Classic? If the race is run like it should be, with American Pharoah blitzing to the front, opening up a big lead, and setting very quick fractions, I think we could be looking at a 115.

Tonalist, Honor Code, and Smooth Roller have earned Beyers of 111 or more. American Pharoah has not, but anybody who watched the Haskell knows he could have done it that day.

Breeders’ Cup Saturday at Keeneland will, as usual, decide half a dozen year-end divisional championships and tantalize bettors with multimillion-dollar wagering pools. But this year is different. There is no Horse of the Year title on the line because American Pharoah cinched that award back in June, when he became the sport’s first Triple Crown winner in 37 years.

Breeders’ Cup Friday remains a work in progress.

The idea of a filly-heavy card was abandoned three years ago, and Breeders’ Cup officials have failed to agree on a different Friday “theme,” such as all juveniles or all sprinters. Races such as the Marathon and Juvenile Sprint have been banished from official Cup status like misfit toys.

You would have thought that by now, Larry Jones would have won at least one running of the Breeders’ Cup Distaff by accident, especially after training such talented female Thoroughbreds as Havre de Grace, Proud Spell, Believe You Can, Island Sand, and Joyful Victory.

Then again, it’s probably in bad taste to mention “accident” around Jones, who counts himself as a paid-up member of the lucky-to-be-here-at-all club after getting roughed up and sent into a semi-coma by a racehorse just 18 months ago at Delaware Park.