Sheppard, who turns 69 on Dec. 2, has always been really good on the flats, especially in long grass races. Now, after first learning the American game from legendary steeplechase trainer Burley Cocks, the man with the magic touch just finished off the greatest year of his career with a day most trainers can't even imagine.

First, Sheppard sent out the amazing 9-year-old Cloudy's Knight to do everything but win the Marathon, the first race on yesterday's Breeders' Cup card at Santa Anita. Sheppard took over the gelding's training after a soft tissue injury last year. He slowly got him ready at his Ashwell Farm and brought him off a year layoff to win two stakes in Kentucky. And, under a perfect ride from Rosemary Homeister Jr., Cloudy's Knight really looked like the Marathon winner until Man of Iron came up the rail to beat him by an inch.

The Sheppard-trained Forever Together, the defending champion in the Filly & Mare Turf, got no pace to run at and had to settle for third in the final race of a career that saw her earn nearly $3 million.

In the very next race, the Filly & Mare Sprint, Sheppard's Informed Decision got the jump on defending champ and race favorite Ventura and won comfortably.

So, on the day, Sheppard got a win, a second, a third and $828,000 in purse earnings, putting him close to $5.5 million in 2009.

"This is the best year I've ever had," Sheppard said.

Why now after all these years?

"Why this is suddenly happening to me late in my career, I don't quite know," he said. "Don't ask me why. I guess everything fell into place."

Informed Decision is not the typical Sheppard long-winded grass horse. In fact, she is a sprinter. She has run seven sprint races on synthetic tracks. And won them all.

"She's just a super fast horse," Sheppard said. "The main key is just trying to avoid doing something stupid, so that she doesn't have a chance to show what she can do. She's just a stone-cold runner.

"Always has been, and is not quite my usual type horse because I've been known more for longer races and grass races. She just kind of got me to where I am pretty much [on] her own natural raw ability."

Sheppard knew what she was and wasn't. He played to her strengths. He knows what a good horse looks like and how to give that horse the best chance to win.

"People do tend to get branded a little bit as a certain type of trainer," Sheppard said. "And I think most of us trainers, we all have a little bit of pride. We like to think if we're a good trainer with one kind of horse, we probably are with another. But not everybody has the opportunity to prove it."

George Strawbridge's Augustin Stable owns the two grays, Forever Together and Informed Decision. His familiar green and white colors have been in winner's circles in the Delaware Valley for decades. In fact, Sheppard and Strawbridge have been a team for 43 years.

Sheppard's farm is right near Mark Reid's Walnut Green and the Jacksons' Lael Farm. Strawbridge's place is not far away.

Sheppard has gotten no shortage of good horses from Strawbridge, who also runs internationally. In only 14 races, Informed Decision has earned nearly $1.8 million. And she will be back to run in 2010.

"She's not a one-dimensional sprinter that's gasping a little bit when she goes the extra eighth," Sheppard said.

When Forever Together won an Eclipse Award last year, Sheppard joined Sidney Watters Jr. as the only trainers to win Eclipses on the flats and jumps. Informed Decision will get her trainer another.

In his other life, Sheppard won the Colonial Cup 11 times and trained four-time steeplechase champion Flatterer.

In 1985, Sheppard nearly won the Breeders' Cup Juvenile with a relatively unknown colt. The colt he trained lost by a nose. Sheppard suggested to owner W.T. Young that the colt might make a nice sire.

Storm Cat turned out to be the most important American stallion of the last 20 years. His son Tabasco Cat won the Preakness and Belmont Stakes. Cat Thief won the Breeders' Cup Classic. Giant's Causeway was a European champion who has turned into a great sire.

Storm Cat's stud fee was once $500,000. His sons and daughters brought nearly $1 billion at the sales. Now retired from stud, Storm Cat just had a son sell for more than $2 million in a down market. Even late in life, the horse is still fashionable.

Sort of like Jonathan Sheppard. The stage is bigger now, what with millions on the line yesterday, 37,651 fans at the track on a picture-perfect day and an ESPN2 audience. But training is training, and everybody now knows what bettors in the Delaware Valley have known for years.

Jonathan Sheppard is one of the best anywhere.