The last time the first two finishers in the Breeders’ Cup Classic met early the following season was on Feb. 6, 2000, at Santa Anita Park. Those who do not remember the day are forgiven.

Cat Thief and Budroyale were hardly household names, either before or after their 1-2 finish in the 1999 Classic at Gulfstream Park. Cat Thief was 19-1 and Budroyale was 26-1. Of more lasting impact was the Classic’s $1 superfecta payoff of $692,907, completed by 75-1 Golden Missile and 63-1 Chester House. Somebody had a lucky phone number.

One of the prime items on the dinner menu of the Vessels Club at Los Alamitos Race Course is Art Sherman’s Petite Filet, Lobster and Shrimp, with Yukon gold mashed potatoes and veggies, all for $38.

Better get it while it’s hot.

The timing of the entrée’s appearance on the Los Alamitos bill-of-fare is suspicious, roughly coinciding with the emergence of California Chrome as a serious 3-year-old colt who just happens to be trained by Art Sherman at – where else? – Los Alamitos.

Leaders of the racing industry regularly fret about the difficulty of attracting new fans. One of the sport’s problems, they say, is its long learning curve compared to other forms of gambling. A chimpanzee can readily learn to pull the handle of a slot machine, but a newcomer to racing can labor for months to learn the basics.

But instead of trying to simplify handicapping, the industry has gone in the opposite direction, making some basic factors – such as the class and distances of races – even more complex, to the point of incomprehensibility.

The two Penn National Gaming tracks in the Mid-Atlantic region, Charles Town and Penn National, have carved out a significant stakes presence every spring with the $1.5 million Charles Town Classic and now the $500,000 Penn Mile.

Two of the best films of 2013 were sports movies – “Rush” and “42” – and between them they got exactly zero Academy Award nominations. So much for Sunday’s Oscars.

“Rush” combined car racing, sex, and death, while “42” was about baseball and civil rights. Both sound like perfect recipes for awards recognition, but what do I know? I still think Jason Stratham is the most underrated actor of our time.

You’ve got to hand it to the Gotham Stakes. If it had a voice and could wave its arms, it would be up on a tabletop shouting, “I am somebody! I am somebody!”

To be fair it was, once upon a time, when for more than 40 years the Gotham had a safe and secure home as a one-turn mile over the Aqueduct main track on a date not normally associated with snowfall.

When the Gulfstream Park stewards disqualified Collinito from first place in last Saturday’s 12th and final race, prompting another carryover in the track’s Rainbow Six wager instead of a $1.6 million payout to a bettor with the lone live ticket to the original winner, Internet forums and social-media feeds went ablaze with allegations of injustice and chicanery. Nearly a week later, it remains a dominant topic in the sport.

It has been 50 years since Walter Blum won the second of his back-to-back championships for riding the most winners in North America. Fifty years since Blum teamed with Gun Bow to beat four-time Horse of the Year Kelso in three out of five confrontations, including their epic battle in the Woodward Stakes.

So naturally, when Blum was reached one morning this week after an early round of golf near his home in Tamarac, Fla., just west of Fort Lauderdale, he was asked the obvious question:

I miss Shared Belief.

I miss the clarity he provided after his dominating wins in the Hollywood Prevue and CashCall Futurity.

I miss the opportunity to see a potential superstar on the track in the early Kentucky Derby prep races.

Not sure if Shared Belief will have enough time to make the Derby. Foot issues are like no other issues. They linger.

[ROAD TO THE KENTUCKY DERBY: Prep races, point standings, replays]

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Some of the nation’s promising 3-year-olds raced at Gulfstream Park Saturday and put on an exciting show. Wildcat Red won a dramatic head-and-head stretch duel to beat General a Rod in the Fountain of Youth Stakes. Constitution, who may be trainer Todd Pletcher’s best 3-year-old, ran away from a strong field in an allowance race. They all established their credentials as Kentucky Derby contenders. Or did they?