When it comes to Eclipse Award voting, I have one nagging question: Who thinks up these rules? Well, no, that’s not quite right. Rather, who doesn’t think up these rules? No, that’s not right, either. How about … why are there no rules?

LAS VEGAS – If you’ve been watching or reading any NFL coverage this week, you’re probably well versed in the playoff implications of all the games.

Most of the headlines from Santa Anita’s opening day Wednesday were a variation on the Mandella & Son angle, lauding the intergenerational stakes double laid down by Richard and Gary in the Malibu on the main track and the Sir Beaufort on turf. Gary is the tall one. Richard is in the Hall of Fame. Both of them have a sense of humor that can be generously described as arid.

I have no idea why people talk to me. During telephone conversations I am curt, ill-humored, and interrupt frequently, then hang up without saying thank you or goodbye. On those rare occasions I descend from this ivory tower (executive columnist – never forget that) I engage with racetrackers on the level of a highway patrolman who’s just pulled you over for a bad tail light.

In one sense, Santa Anita Park tradition is to be admired for its disregard of the 12-month calendar. To stage a glorious “beginning” of anything on Dec. 26 defies logic, but has certainly worked for the suburban L.A. racetrack since it opened on Christmas Day, 1934.

On Wednesday, fans will be treated to My Miss Aurelia, a legitimate star, in the La Brea Stakes and a field of battle-tested 3-year-olds in the Malibu, as well as the sound of Trevor Denman’s voice bouncing off the San Gabriel Mountains on what will likely be a postcard of a day.

LAS VEGAS – The NFL has two weeks left in the season, and it’s that time of year when the oddsmakers have the hardest time setting the lines and handicappers have more things to take into consideration when analyzing the lines.

Maryland’s once-healthy Thoroughbred industry began its descent to minor-league status in the mid-1990s. When slot machines were legalized in neighboring states, horses and stables exited Maryland to compete for larger purses. Amidst the decline, Laurel Park and Pimlico suffered from bad management. Moreover, the tracks’ owners and their horsemen were constantly at war with each other, and they could never agree on any plan to revive the industry.

To my knowledge, there has never been any evidence of voter fraud or flagrant miscounts in the 41 Eclipse Award elections that have been held since 1971, unless you are among those of us who still maintain that Exceller was robbed blind in 1979. But never mind.

Instead, when it comes to choosing the Eclipse champions of 2012 there is more of a chance that confusion will reign rather than long lines and voter supression.

The most important thing that was accomplished at the board meeting of the New York Racing Association on Wednesday, the first since it was put under government control last August, was the education of its new chairman that he had severely underestimated the enormity of his task and the time required to fulfill it.

In terms of being among the serious contenders for the Kentucky Derby the following year, it can be argued that by winning the CashCall Futurity a young horse has peaked too soon. Or too late. Or not at all.

Such is the mish-mash of conclusions to be drawn from 31 runnings of the 1 1/16-mile event, which has been won by an array of 2-year-olds that lack for nothing in terms of variety.