They call Awesome Gem a "working man's horse." A look at the stats tells you why.

Consider: forty-four starts for West Point Thoroughbreds, 32 in graded races, 15 in Grade 1 events.

Eight wins, four of them graded, including a score in the 2010 Hollywood Gold Cup, a title he'll defend in the 72nd edition this Saturday.

Fourteen near-misses as the runner-up in races like the 2009 Eddie Read Stakes and the 2007 Pacific Classic at Del Mar.

Five third-place finishes including one behind Curlin in the 2007 Breeders' Cup Classic at Monmouth Park.

Earnings of $2,568,270.

That's a gritty campaign by a grand old runner who is still going strong in graded company as an 8-year-old -- a genuine rarity in the world of modern Thoroughbred racing.

"After so many years and so many graded stakes, it's almost hard to get your arms around how meaningful he's been," said Terry Finley, Founder and President of West Point. "You keep saying to yourself, 'Man, this guy is a solid graded stakes performer and winner and he's still carrying the same form he had as a 4-year-old.'"

Remember Better Talk Now? The Tin Man? Naughty New Yorker and Evening Attire? All retired in recent years after campaigning through graded stakes conditions on various surfaces with varying degrees of success. Last year Awesome Gem solidified his position as one of the type by earning his first Grade 1 score in the Gold Cup (he upset 2-5 favorite Rail Trip to the tune of an $18 payoff by closing with a last-to-first run). This Saturday, just two weeks after a second-place finish as the 9-5 favorite in Prairie Meadows' Grade 3 Cornhusker Handicap, he'll run in the Gold Cup again.

Only two horses -- Lava Man and Native Diver -- have ever won back-to-back editions of Hollywood Park's signature event. This year, the son of Awesome Again will take on the likes of 122-pound high weight Twirling Candy, Santa Anita Handicap winner Game On Dude, and the filly Miss Match, winner of the Grade 1 Santa Margarita Invitational at Santa Anita in March. He gets a break in the weights -- carrying just 116 with jockey David Flores aboard -- and trainer Craig Dollase said he's working "like a freight train."

"He's so good right now, because he always gets good at this time of the year," Dollase remarked. "We'd better strike while the iron's hot, so to speak. I think he has a chance to defend his title and he might have an advantage over a few of these runners. The weights are definitely in our favor."

Awesome Gem's most recent victory came over Flat Out and Game On Dude in the Grade 3 Lone Star Handicap on May 30. Earlier in the year, he ran fourth and sixth, respectively, in the Alysheba Stakes at Churchill and the Charles Town Classic -- with a narrow margin of defeat in the former event.

"Even when he loses, you're usually talking a few lengths at the most," Finley said.

The gelding's connections aren't concerned with the quick turnaround from the Cornhusker into the 1 ¼-mile Gold Cup.

"I've had him for six years; I think I know him pretty well," Dollase said. "He shipped back from Prairie Meadows in great shape and he's been training great since then. He always starts off a fresh horse in the spring and stays pretty consistent through the early summer."

Dollase is no stranger to conditioning runners who have been around for a while -- "I've been known to train an old warrior or two," he said. California racing fans may remember El Cielo, a son of El Prado who ran competitively in stakes races as an 8-year-old and was not retired until he was nine. That gelding brought in 14 victories including a string of Grade 3 scores and back-to-back editions of the Morvich Handicap at Santa Anita.

With the insight born of experience, Dollase has always made it a priority to give Awesome Gem an appropriate amount of R&R.

"Every year we give him little breaks in between, whenever he's needed to stop we've let him," he explained. "That's probably what's kept him running. He always gives us a very good effort each and every time."

According to Finley, the synthetic surfaces in California and the gelding's natural rhythm also played a factor in keeping him in competition this long.

"I'm a big believer in the synthetics and his whole career has almost been run on synthetics," the owner said. "It's rare to see an eight-year-old do what he's done, and you certainly don't see many of them running on dirt tracks on the East Coast. Also, he's not a big, heavy horse. He's got a great rhythm to his stride and when he runs he takes care of himself. He gallops along and accelerates so smoothly. When they don't have that kind of rhythm, that's when they're pounding on an ankle or a knee, but he hits the ground light on his feet and that's definitely worked to his advantage."

Awesome Gem has started in the Breeders' Cup Classic twice, the Breeders' Cup Mile once, and the Breeders' Cup Marathon last year. With the Hollywood Gold Cup serving as a qualifier for the World Championships' "Win and You're In" initiative (the winner of the race gets a guaranteed spot in the $5 million Breeders' Cup Classic starting gate at Churchill Downs on November 5), a potential fifth Breeders' Cup start is not out of the question. It'll all depend on how the old gelding does in his summer campaign.

For now -- just when you think they don't make 'em like they used to -- he keeps on running.