PHILADELPHIA - It was just going to be one of those casual racetrack lunches where every 20 minutes or so you would look up and see precisely how long it would take the usual Philadelphia Park fare to make it around the racetrack. I was there a few Mondays ago with one veteran horseplayer and one novice.

The money was pooled. I was in charge of all selections and all decisions.

I explained to the novice that this would be a high-risk, high-reward venture without really risking all that much or expecting much of a reward.

NEW YORK - The Sunshine Millions, the rotating series of eight stakes events for California- and Florida-breds at Gulfstream Park and Santa Anita worth a total of $3.6 million in purse money, dominates Saturday's stakes action. Santa Anita hosts the headliner, the $1 million Sunshine Millions Classic.

Sunshine Millions Classic

LAS VEGAS - First prize in the Daily Racing Form/National Thoroughbred Racing Association National Handicapping Championship, being held this Friday and Saturday at the Bally's race book, has been increased from $225,000 to $250,000.

LAS VEGAS - With the completion of my five-part series on this year's freshman sires last week, it seems fitting to announce who I think will be the top 10 first-crop stallions.

Picking young, unproven sires is always a tricky read, and while there will surely be stallions who will emerge as their offspring mature, going longer distances and also racing on turf at 3 and 4, the selections below are based on how the progeny of these sires will perform as juveniles.

NEW YORK - The Kentucky Derby Future Wager returns this week, with Pool 1 running Thursday through Sunday. This is the eighth year of the bet, and all of us who try to win a lot with relatively little lament the fact that although this is a parimutuel bet it still does not offer hundreds of individual wagering interests. That would make the Derby Future Wager a must for just about every horseplayer because of the potential to make a meaningful score with a modest investment.

PHOENIX - Trainer Doug O'Neill likely spends most of his day thinking about potential future glory with Stevie Wonderboy, or the possibilities of his Grade 1-winning older horse Lava Man. But he also trains Whilly, who, despite being a graded-stakes winner and a top contender in Sunday's San Marcos Handicap on the Santa Anita turf, certainly has been a study in frustration.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. - Back in the day, the glorious run through the 1970's, making money at the races was like shooting fish in a barrel. For the most part it was still the only game in town, and most of the money being pushed through the betting windows was hopelessly uninformed.

NEW YORK - With last weekend a three-day weekend at most tracks in honor of the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday, and with next Saturday being Sunshine Millions Day, this weekend's stakes schedule is light by comparison. The main events Saturday are the $200,000 Fair Grounds Breeders' Cup Handicap at Louisiana Downs, and the $150,000 Palos Verdes Handicap at Santa Anita. At Gulfstream Park, the headliner is the $100,000 First Lady Handicap, while in New York, the feature is the $100,000 Aqueduct Handicap.

Fair Grounds Breeders' Cup Handicap

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Horseplayers preparing for the Oaklawn Park meet, which began Friday, need to study more than the past standings from the track to gain an edge this season. That's because this meet is expected to be markedly deeper than in the past.

With the abbreviated Fair Grounds meet at Louisiana Downs concluding Sunday, Oaklawn is in the enviable position of being loaded with horses and horsemen.

ARCADIA, Calif. - Arcangues was not supposed to win the Breeders' Cup Classic in 1993, but no one told his jockey.

Jerry Bailey and Arcangues saved nearly every inch of ground, split horses late, and drew away. He lit up the tote board at $269.20. That bombshell happened only six months after unheralded Sea Hero won the Kentucky Derby at $27.80. Bailey up.