For eight long and lonely years, John Brunetti sat defeated inside his office at Hialeah Park, dreaming of this day. His fabled thoroughbred track, which is scheduled to reopen on Saturday, was decaying from neglect.

What the tropical heat and salt air didn't ruin of the facility, the winds from Hurricane Wilma did, wrecking the barns that once housed a who's who of horse-racing greats, from Citation to Seabiscuit.

``I got friendly with the foxes and the flamingos,'' said Brunetti, the track's owner.

After a filly named Cheeky Miss won the final race on May 22, 2001, Hialeah was shuttered, the loser in a decades-long battle against Gulfstream Park and Calder Race Course for exclusive racing dates.

On Saturday, though, the 84-year-old track -- gussied up after years of dormancy -- will reawaken for two consecutive 20-day quarter-horse meets that are certain to rekindle memories of a time when the sport of kings was the biggest game in town.

``It was the most beautiful track in America,'' said Braulio Baeza, a retired Hall of Fame jockey who first set eyes on the tropical oasis during a vacation from Panama in the 1950s. ``I fell in love with it.''

As workers painted and polished in preparation for Saturday's opening, Baeza -- who counts the 1963 Kentucky Derby among his many triumphs -- was busy putting the jockeys' room in order, arranging numbered saddle cloths and whatnot.

Outside, a few racing old-timers wandered about, checking out the improvements while reminiscing about days gone by.

Jack Wilson, retired chart caller for the Daily Racing Form, has memories of Hialeah going back to the 1940s. Wilson said he used to place bets -- illegally, wink-wink -- when he was 10 years old, standing outside the track entrance with chauffeurs and sending in his wagers with a runner.

``I'd go after school,'' Wilson said.

BIG PLANS AHEAD

Brunetti is hoping to restore some of Hialeah's glory while resurrecting it in the form of a combination race track, casino and entertainment center -- a ``destination point'' patterned along the lines of the Seminole Hard Rock Casino in Hollywood.

The proposed $25 million casino and accompanying retail complex are at least two years from fruition. And the track is licensed for quarter horses only, not the thoroughbreds that once graced the track and performed in front of the rich and powerful, from the wealthy Vanderbilts to Winston Churchill.

Quarter horses are to thoroughbreds what dragsters are to Indy racers, a breed capable of sustaining hellfire speed over short distances. Their races typically last about 20 seconds compared with the minute-and-longer thoroughbred races.

For Brunetti and Hialeah, they'll be serving as a vehicle for his casino plans and, ultimately perhaps, the return of thoroughbreds.

``It's a long road, and I can't guarantee anything,'' said Brunetti, the track's 78-year-old owner. ``But do you want to sit still and wallow around in the muck and the mire and the defeatism? Or do you want to go ahead?''

For years, Brunetti waged war against Gulfstream and Calder further north, battling to secure the coveted winter racing dates, when the region is packed with tourists and many of the nation's top horses are shipped in to race in the warmth and sunshine.

Hialeah tried going head-to-head against Calder in 1989, couldn't compete for customers, and closed. When it reopened in 1992, a crowd of more than 30,000 poured through the turnstiles, eager to see racing at a track many had given up for dead.