LAS VEGAS – Autumn (or the equivalent of it that we get here) has finally arrived here in the desert.

It’s great to finally have the air conditioner not running 24/7, but what’s also great is we have a convergence of all the major sports seasons. The NHL dropped the puck on its season Tuesday, and that’s the same day that over/under season win totals were posted at the LVH SuperBook for the NBA season, which starts at the end of the month. And this is all while the MLB playoffs have started, and of course we’re in the midst of the college and pro football seasons.

Somebody please take out an ad, fire off an old-fashioned blast fax, or send forth a mass e-mail. Tweet, for Pete’s sake. Do they still have billboards by the highway?

The Horse of the Year is running on Saturday.

It wasn’t enough that Gary Stevens won three major stakes over the weekend at Santa Anita Park to set the table for a potentially big Breeders’ Cup, while giving further lie to the fact that he is coming off a seven-year retirement at the age of 50.

Racing millionaires are no longer an oddity. In an era of inflated purses, it is hard to separate the horses that just were in the right place at the right time from the horses that really earned the money.

That is not an issue with Immortal Eyes. An 8-year-old gelding, Immortal Eyes earned his $1 million the hard way, race by race, through a 47-race career at 14 different tracks from Florida to New York, but mostly in Maryland and West Virginia.

It’s been said the best way to go out is to leave them wanting more. You would think, though, that rabid followers of AMC’s meth-and-violence-addled “Breaking Bad” would have had enough of Walter White and his merry band of sociopaths by now, and that the final episode on Sunday night will bring them blessed relief so that they may feel free to turn to more wholesome entertainment, like “Duck Dynasty,” or reruns of “Dexter.”

LAS VEGAS – Breeders’ Cup fever – catch it!

No, that’s not the BC’s new marketing slogan, but I’ve caught the bug with racing’s championship weekend just five weeks away, and this is the perfect time to check in on the future-book odds here in Vegas, with most of the last major prep races this weekend from coast to coast. (It also helps that my subpar start to the football season has me looking for other diversions.)

College football fans can’t all be at South Bend, Columbus, or Tuscaloosa on Saturday, just as racing fans can’t zip between Belmont Park and Santa Anita for the best single afternoon of sport this year. As a result, the airwaves will be abuzz, as millions settle into Barcaloungers and neighborhood bars for a day of heady indulgence in their favorite early autumn pastimes. Here’s how it should go …

Princess of Sylmar will not be favored to beat Royal Delta in the Beldame on Saturday at Belmont Park, and Orb and Palace Malice face a tough task taking on Cross Traffic and Flat Out a few hours later in the Jockey Club Gold Cup. Still, it’s tempting to root for those 3-year-olds if only to reward their connections for choosing to run as underdogs at Belmont in these races instead of opting for easier paydays a week ago at Parx Racing.

ELMONT, N.Y – Walking through Belmont Park is an unsettling experience, especially for anyone who remembers America’s most imposing racetrack in its glory days. The grandstand that stretches nearly a quarter of a mile used to be packed with tens of thousands of fans, even on weekdays. Last Saturday’s attendance of 5,628 made the cavernous facility feel like a mausoleum, and on weekdays the crowds are half that size.

Upon his purchase of Santa Anita Park in 1998 for $126 million, the Austro-Canadian auto parts magnate Frank Stronach was crystal clear about his desire to gain a greater share of the California racing calendar. He saw no reason that a property such as Santa Anita should be restricted to only a few months of vigorous operation each year. He insisted that tracks should be allowed to compete for customers, thereby allowing “free enterprise,” in his words, to reign.

Be careful what you wish for.