BOSTON - I began to wonder: Are the parameters of Stress-Regression Theory more perplexing in Southern California than at other Thoroughbred venues? In other words, do horses bounce the same way at Santa Anita as they do at other race tracks?

PHILADELPHIA - There are 434 Triple Crown nominations. After hours of study, I have narrowed it down to 10 possible Kentucky Derby winners.

Forget the obvious horses. You can have Birdstone and Eurosilver. You've got Smarty Jones and Tapit. Action This Day? All yours.

Me? I want Bull's Notions, J.J.'s Voyage, Johnny's Angelos, Kansun, Samurai Nanao, Shuffle Pass, Silent Gold, and Spanish Shot. There are two other horses I like, but you will have to read on for them.

NEW YORK - Soon after Medaglia d'Oro humbled Seattle Fitz, Funny Cide, and all the rest in Saturday's Donn Handicap at Gulfstream Park, it was suggested that Medaglia d'Oro's next target would be the Dubai World Cup on March 27. For that, I have four words:

Don't do it. Please!

PHOENIX - When juvenile champ Action This Day resurfaces in Sunday's Sham Stakes at Santa Anita, the question is, which horse shows up? Do we get the horse who so dramatically won the Breeders' Cup Juvenile, or the one who in his debut just plugged along to be a non-threatening second?

Considering Action This Day's layoff of more than three months and the 1 1/8-mile distance of the Sham, it could go either way.

NEW YORK - Claiming races may be the bread and butter of racing programs, but you couldn't tell that by Saturday's schedule, which finds stakes-filled cards at tracks on each side of the nation and points in between.

The big race of the day is the $500,000 Donn Handicap at Gulfstream Park, featuring an attractive matchup between Medaglia d'Oro and Funny Cide. But, the Donn is only one of three stakes to be run at Gulfstream on Saturday. The $150,000 Davona Dale for 3-year-old fillies, and the $100,000 Deputy Minister for sprinters will also be decided there.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. - Regarding horseplayers' never-ending quest for systematized selections that call for little or no judgment, see if you can guess what the accompanying list of inner-track winners at Aqueduct (right) had in common.

At an average mutuel exceeding $27, this group of nine winners, all of them New York-breds, fell through the cracks of most conventional handicapping methods. In fact, their recent running lines, without exception, were downright ugly.

When handicapping turf races, many believe that it is best to focus on the "class on grass." The belief is that early speed and time take on less importance in turf races, thereby making class more significant.

Even grass speed figures are to a great extent an interpretation of class. In many cases, few turf races are run on a given card, so there is less data for time comparisons and figure handicappers must project - or estimate - their numbers.

BOSTON - Why is everybody complaining about the state of racing in Southern California? That is, for reasons other than that we're horseplayers and so we're always complaining about everything.

I understand that there are many problems with Southern California racing: small fields (shockingly small in many grass races), abbreviated eight-race cards, rising costs of Thoroughbred ownership, declining handle leading to cuts in purses, and decisions by management about signal availability that produce big-bettor boycotts.

NEW YORK - Wow!

What other reaction could anyone have had to Pleasantly Perfect's spectacular return in Saturday's San Antonio Handicap at Santa Anita?

Pleasantly Perfect certainly gave us several reasons to be impressed with his performance Saturday, from how he made the three months he had been away since his Breeders' Cup Classic upset seem insignificant to the powerful way he drew off to score by four widening lengths. But for me, the most impressive aspect to Pleasantly Perfect's San Antonio was his demonstration of vastly improved positional speed.

PHOENIX - For most of the past 20 years, Southern California has been home to the world's best sprinters. Not to ignore the feats of Smile, Groovy, Honour and Glory, and other top sprinters based elsewhere, but for the most part California speed has been the benchmark.

Yet lately, there's been a changing of the guard. Southern Cal sprinters Kona Gold, Big Jag, and Swept Overboard left big shoes that have not been filled. Last year the best sprinters were Aldebaran, Congaree, Beau's Town, Cajun Beat, and Shake You Down. Of those, only Congaree belongs to the West Coast.