LEXINGTON, Ky. -- The first day of action at the Breeders' Cup is not usually the place you'll find a superstar colt.

It's almost always a filly or mare who steals the show in the $2 million Breeders' Cup Distaff.

Yet on the initial day of the first Breeders' Cup in the heart of the Kentucky breeding industry at Keeneland Race Course, it was a colt bound for a new career down the road at Lane's End Farm who created the biggest stir -- and debate.

Should he or shouldn't have he?

That was the pertinent question of the day, with the banter involving the Breeders' Cup Classic. Should his connections have put Liam's Map in Saturday's $5 million Breeders' Cup Classic, instead of Friday's $1 million Dirt Mile where he ran like one of the very best horses in the world amidst highly patriotic overtones?

The door to that debate was swung open by the way he very much resembled a horse good enough to be the main challenger for Triple Crown champion American Pharoah in the BC Classic -- especially in the early stages of the race.

Primarily known as a one-dimensional front-runner, Liam's Map got away from the gate poorly in the Dirt Mile and was fourth after the opening quarter-mile. Then he was checked slightly on the backstretch and lost some ground. Jockey Javier Castellano then had to swing wide on a track that was kind to speed and try to collar a horse named Lea, who was third in the $10 million Dubai World Cup in March.

Liam's Map overcame all of those issues and then some, drawing away to win by a 2 ½-length margin that easily could have been double that with a smooth trip.

"It was an amazing effort. Going into today he seemed to have brilliant speed and the ability to carry it over a distance of ground," trainer Todd Pletcher said after Liam's Map closed out his career with a record of six wins in eight career starts. "He has the high cruising speed. The thing he did today was he overcame adversity, so he took it to another level today."

Of course, could he have taken it to another level in the Classic, where he could have been the serious challenger on the front end that American Pharoah is lacking after the defection of Beholder?

Surely he had the credentials to run in the Classic as he lost by a neck to Honor Code in the mile-and-an-eighth Grade 1 Whitney at Saratoga, beating Tonalist by a length-and-a-half. In Saturday's BC Classic, Tonalist and Honor Code are the second and third choices behind American Pharoah in the revised morning line at 4-1 and 5-1, respectively.

After winning the Grade 1 Woodward at Saratoga, again at a mile and an eighth, Liam's Map was entered in both the BC Classic and the Dirt Mile, and it was owner Teresa Viola's decision to opt for lesser competition in the Dirt Mile, where the colt was sent off as a huge 1-2 ($3) favorite, as opposed to the longer mile-and-a-quarter Classic, where he would have been anywhere from the second to fifth choice.

"I just think he was [either] a big fish in a little pond or a little fish in a big pond," Viola said, "and I knew he could do the mile. I just felt confident that he would win."

Viola's husband, Vincent, owner of the Florida Panthers, didn't argue.

"I felt it was his natural distance," Vincent said.

"I thought it was a good choice," added Terry Finley of West Point Thoroughbreds, who purchased a share of the 4-year-old colt this summer.

Yeah, but wasn't there the slightest tinge of regret about not seeing if Liam's Map could earn himself a place in racing lore by beating a Triple Crown champion?

"Regrets?" Pletcher, the seven-time Eclipse Award winner as the nation's top trainer, replied when the question was posed to him. "We just won a Breeders' Cup race. We're pretty happy."

That happiness was clearly seen in the emotional reactions by the Violas to their first Breeders' Cup as well as the special guest who was on hand to share it with them, sitting next to the Panthers' boss in an owner's box.

A graduate of the United States Military Academy at West Point, Vincent Viola permanently endowed the Combating Terrorism Center at West Point in the aftermath of the Sept. 11 attacks. The head of that center was Col. Liam Collins, who gave Viola a gift when he stepped down from that job to take a teaching position at West Point. He presented Viola with a silk survival map from Collins' days in Afghanistan during 2001.

Viola was so touched by the gift that he decided to attach the name of Liam's Map to an $800,000 Unbridled's Song colt he and his wife just bought.

Now that colt is a Breeders' Cup winner, and Vincent Viola could not have been more happy or proud, not just of himself, but for a multitude of others.

"This win is dedicated to every serviceman and servicewomen, especially the Special Forces," Vincent Viola said. "I wished today for every young boy who attends the races with his dad like I did, that they could share and experience these feelings that I am [feeling] today. I wish for that for every young American son and daughter, quite frankly. Every daughter and son."

Yes, it surely was an emotional day for the Violas and Col. Collins -- and they didn't even run Liam's Map in the BC Classic.

One can only imagine the emotions if they had.