* Give yourselves a hand for setting a new Breeders' Cup handle record of $120 million. And thank you for not betting an extra $11,000 on the Pick Six so I could win my side bet on the handle for the pool -- I took under $4.5 million and the total was $4.489 million.

* Those who believe in omens might have found one in the first race on the card when Nasty Storm, the 2-1 favorite in the Very Subtle, finished dead last as the 2-1 favorite while making her first start for trainer Bobby Frankel. That began a skein of horrific results for the sport's leading trainer, up until Medaglia d'Oro's gallant second in the Classic. Sightseek, Peace Rules, Albebaran, Midas Eyes, Heat Haze, Tates Creek and Megahertz all failed to hit the board.

* Adoration had some things to like about her but getting loose and wiring the field was still pretty far-fetched. The key may have been that Lady Tak and Take Charge Lady both took back off what turned out to be the day's slowest pace. Adoration was loose through a half in 47.08. The half-mile splits in the other Cup-race routes were 46.82 in the Juvenile Fillies, 45.17 in the Juvenile and 46.35 in the Classic.

* The surprising price of the day may have been Halfbridled's. Those of us who had advocated taking a shot against her at a short price, which turned out to be folly, had expected her to be 6-to-5 or less. At $6.50, she was a very square and playable price. The exacta in this race also came back an extremely generous number -- $126 for $2 on the 2-1 favorite and 13-1 Ashado.

* Halfbridled, Ashado (beaten 2 1/2 lengths) and third-place finisher Victory U.S.A. (beaten 2 3/4) all ran faster than any of the colts in the Juvenile, Halfbridled's winning time was 1:42.75 while the Juvenile was clocked in 1:43.62.

* Peace Rules, 6-1 on the line, opened at 2-1 in the Mile and went off the 3.10-1 favorite. Who was betting out on him at such a low price?

* The performances of the European imports may have been the story of the day. After all the Euro-grumbling about temperatures that soared into the high 90's and a very fast grass course, Six Perfections dominated the mile; Islington, L'Ancresse and Yesterday ran 1-2-3 off the plane in the F&M Turf, and High Chaparral and Falbrav ran big ones in the Turf. The Euros may now be more willing to try Dallas next year than had initially been thought.

* Should there be two payoffs when there's a dead-heat in a Pick Four sequence? There were two different doubles and Pick Three results depending on whether you used High Chaparral or Johar but the Pick Four and Pick Six paid the same for using either.

* Those who had 5 out of 6 got a nice conso of $18,663 but would have gotten at least an extra $60,000 apiece had the Turf dead-heat gone an inch the other way. Since there was only one winning Pick Six ticket, the as-yet unidentified winner clearly used either High Chaparral or Johar but not both. Had he lost the photo, those with five would have carved up the whole pool. This is not a concern for those of us who were thrilled to be alive after the first three legs but pitched a shutout the rest of the way.

* Hats off to Medaglia d'Oro, who held second in the Classic after dueling with Congaree most of the way. Medaglia has now been second in two Breeders' Cup Classics as well as the Belmont Stakes, Wood Memorial and Pacific Classic.

* Betting was fairly balanced on all the Cup Head2Head propositions, with all the winners returning between $3.20 and $3.80. That may sound like all favorites, but thanks to takeout, $3.30 is the actual dividing line between favorite and second choice. So although Funny Cide was 8-1 and Volponi 16-1 in the Classic, Volponi was the Head2Head favorite. Funny Cide paid $3.40 in the Head2Head after finishing ninth and beating exactly one horse - Volponi.

* A number of Eclipse Awards will be up for grabs in light of Saturday's results, with the 2-year-old colt, 3-year-old filly, older filly, and grass male titles particularly open to debate. The biggest one, though, now seems a walkover. A Classic victory by Medaglia d'Oro, Ten Most Wanted, Perfect Drift, Funny Cide or Congaree might have made Horse of the Year a contentious race, but now Mineshaft will get the honor he deserves as the season's best horse.