He is less than three months old and he doesn't even have a name yet, but he represents hope. Maybe he will win the 2009 Kentucky Derby or the 2009 Belmont Stakes, to be run three years from this Saturday. That's a lot to ask of such a young and unproven horse, but it's not exactly an impossibility. That's one of the good things about this sport it allows you to dream, and every once in a while those dreams come true.

The colt is a full-brother to Barbaro and he is owned by Roy and Gretchen Jackson. Right now, the owners are too focused on Barbaro and his recovery to pay much attention to anything else, but the time will surely come when they start looking down the road and to the intriguing possibility that there may just be another Barbaro in their future.

"He's a good, strong foal," said Duncan McDonald, the broodmare manager at Mill Ridge Farm, where Barbaro's dam and baby brother spend their days. "He's medium-sized and he's well made and pretty correct. He's pretty lively. I don't think he'll be quite as big as Barbaro, who's a big horse. But he's a good, strong foal and he has no problems."

At this stage of the game, they don't know much more about a horse than that. Will he be a runner? That won't be known until he reaches the racetrack, maybe some time in the fall of 2008.

Breeding is an inexact science and luck is perhaps the single most important factor involved. There are far from any guarantees that a full-brother to Barbaro will have even half his brother's ability. But the Jacksons have a better chance of coming up with a number of good horses than most. When they first started getting serious about the business, they invested in a number of broodmare prospects, a couple of whom have panned out. The very best broodmares often produce one good horse after another.

That could be the case with La Ville Rouge. The Jacksons brought her in 1998. Her first two foals to race are Barbaro and a horse named Holy Ground, a minor stakes winner. She is in foal once again to Barbaro's sire, Dynaformer, meaning there should be another full-brother to Barbaro hitting the ground some time early next year.

"We've been very lucky," Roy Jackson said. "Our whole program has revolved around buying some mares while they are running and hoping we can turn them into broodmares. We've been lucky with La Ville Rouge and Bordighera (the dam of English classic winner George Washington) over in Europe. The two of them have produced some top-notch horses and we are hopeful they will produce some other nice horses."

Before anyone sees a full sibling to Barbaro hitting the racetrack, his half-brother should debut. Next in line is a horse named Man in Havana, who is by Quiet American out of La Ville Rouge. Trained by Michael Matz, the 2-year-old had his first workout this week at the Fair Hill Training Center and could make his career debut this fall.

"We're optimistic to a fault," Gretchen Jackson said. "You can always hope. But it will be a minor miracle if we ever have another horse like Barbaro. That doesn't mean it can't happen."

Saturday, at least for a few minutes, the Jacksons' focus will not be on Barbaro or his siblings, but on the Belmont Stakes. For them, it was supposed to be one of those days you can only dream about, a day filled with tension, excitement, suspense and, ultimately, joy and fulfillment. When Barbaro demolished his opponents in the Kentucky Derby, his owners had every reason to believe that June 10 was going to be a coronation for their great horse and that he was on his way to becoming racing's first Triple Crown winner in 28 years. Instead, Barbaro is fighting for his life in an equine hospital and the Jacksons will be home Saturday, watching the Belmont Stakes on television.

They will likely have an empty feeling watching a bunch of horses who don't begin to compare to Barbaro running for the $1 million purse. But that feeling may only be temporary. Reinforcements are on their way.