It was a typical trip to Dublin, Ireland and typically, John Perrotta took a few hours away from the horse business to visit the Merrion Casino Club. Perrotta, the head of Star Thoroughbreds, co-breeder of 1997 Belmont Stakes winner Touch Gold and executive producer of the SIRIUS Radio horse racing talk show “At the Races with Steve Byk”, wanted nothing more than a few friendly hands of poker.

He got his wish.

As the game progressed, Perrotta and the other players got along famously, especially one average looking, “sort of chunky” guy who suddenly caught Perrotta’s attention.

“All of a sudden, I noticed this guy had a tattoo on his forearm that said `Power’,” Perrotta said. “Then, I noticed that he had a smaller tattoo between his thumb and forefinger that also said `Power.’ We played a few hands, and he got up to take a break. When he did, all these guys at the table were absolutely giddy. They kept saying, `It’s Phil The Power! We’re playing with Phil The Power!’

“I still didn’t know who this was, and then they told me that Phil The Power is the world’s greatest darts player. In fact, they kept saying that he was the Michael Jordan of darts.”

That was as accurate a description as Perrotta could have received.

Phil “The Power” Taylor, a 48-year-old native of Stoke-On-Trent, England, had won 13 World Championship titles, more than 75 other major tournaments, amassed a tidy fortune and accumulated a huge cult following in the United Kingdom. Saturday, his namesake Phil the Power, will take on seven others in the 58th running of the Grade 3, $100,000-added Stuyvesant Handicap at nine furlongs. He is a well-traveled horse, but will be making his Aqueduct debut for Perrotta and trainer Joe Orseno, both of whom hope he, too, can come from nowhere to be a success.

That was certainly the case of Phil “The Power” Taylor, who dropped out of school at the age of 16, and at one time, made his living by making ceramic toilet roll handles. Often, he was between jobs, and when that happened, he would cheer himself up by playing darts. He became a star in local pubs in his hometown, and one day, he was noticed by Eric Bristow, a top darts player on his own.

Bristow was so impressed with Taylor that he offered to sponsor him for £10,000, provided that Taylor would pay him back. The financial boost allowed Taylor to practice and enter different competitions. Two years later, in 1990, Taylor qualified for his first World Championship and defeated four top players en route to the final. There, he defeated his mentor, Bristow, 6 sets to 1 to claim his first title.

As his legend continued to grow, Taylor often talked about throwing a perfect leg (game) of darts – a nine-dart finish – which is the equivalent of bowling 300 or pitching a perfect baseball game. A single leg of darts requires a player to score 501 points. As a result of the combinations of scoring it means that nine throws is the minimum necessary.

Taylor cemented his place in history in 2002 at the Winter Gardens in Blackpool, Lancashire, when he hit seven consecutive treble 20s, followed by a treble 19 and a double 12. And he did it on live British television in his quarter-final match of the Stan James World Matchplay Championship. He would go on to record several more nine-dart finishes, often while on live television.

All of this celebrity did not seem to dazzle Taylor. Perrotta found him to be a regular guy, enjoying a regular game of poker, and he was so impressed by Taylor’s humility that Perrotta decided to name a horse after the legend.

“I had horses in Ireland and I wanted to name one after Phil,” Perrotta said. “We submitted it, but it was rejected. They said that the name was too famous; it would be like naming a horse Tiger Woods over here.

“So, I had a horse in America that I co-bred with Phillip Myerscough, and I said `Why don’t we name him Phil the Power?’ That name isn’t as well-known over here.”

Phil the Power, a 4-year-old gelded son of 2000 Preakness winner Red Bullet, has raced at Monmouth Park, The Meadowlands, Calder Race Course, Philadelphia Park, Delaware Park, Keeneland, Churchill Downs, Tampa Bay Downs, Fair Grounds and Gulfstream Park. He has drawn the rail for the Stuyvesant and will be ridden by Eibar Coa.

Perhaps at Aqueduct on Saturday, he will finally be on target to make a name for himself.