At a time when the horse racing business has suffered serious a decline, one segment of the sport is enjoying a bonanza. These are great times for horsemen in states where purses are subsidized by revenue from slot machines.

The good news is that Kauto Star will be celebrating his true 12th birthday on Monday none the worse for wear.

Given that, there is no bad news, unless there is reason to weep for those who took 3-1 on the blaze-faced national treasure Friday afternoon at England’s Cheltenham Festival, when Kauto Star was held second favorite to win the Gold Cup for a third time. In fact, he did not make the course, being pulled out of the steeplechase race by a sensible Ruby Walsh about halfway through the journey of 3 5/16 miles.

When Ghostzapper was passed over for election to racing’s Hall of Fame last year, there was a reasonable explanation for why the brilliant 2004 Horse of the Year was denied enshrinement in his first year of eligibility.

A sideways glance at the stakes action out West on Saturday might lead an inveterate hunch player to shoot for an all-Irish parlay, seeing as St. Patrick’s Day is upon us.

Bob Wheeler said, “Come on in here.” So I did, and the smell of freshly tooled leather and all manner of softening oils filled my head. It was his tack room in a far corner of the Santa Anita backstretch, where Wheeler repaired, engraved, and fashioned all manner of belts, boots, and pieces of exotic tack when he wasn’t on the racetrack, imparting his 40 years or so years of Thoroughbred wisdom to the lucky horses in his care.

LAS VEGAS – Selection Sunday, when the NCAA announces the field for the men’s basketball tournament, is always a big day in the sports books here. Everyone is excited to see the brackets, and the lines go up for the opening-round games.

The drama usually builds during the course of the day with the last handful of conference tournaments wrapping up and a few NBA and NHL games also on the screens to keep patrons occupied.

The colt who would have been favored in the $300,000 San Felipe Stakes on Saturday at Santa Anita was resting comfortably in his stall Thursday morning after undergoing a surgical procedure the day before to repair a fracture of his left fore cannon bone.

LOUISVILLE – Churchill Downs Racetrack today announced a multi-year partnership, naming the world’s best-selling Belgian beer Stella Artois as “The Official Beer Sponsor of Churchill Downs, the Kentucky Oaks, and the Kentucky Derby.”

There is no reason on earth why the Kentucky Derby, one of America’s greatest sporting events, should not have its very own official beer, even if it is brewed in Belgium. Belgium is known for its horse racing about as much as Kentucky is famous for its beer.

Somehow the 75th running of the Santa Anita Handicap on Saturday will survive without defending champ Game on Dude, who is now being pointed for the $10 million Dubai World Cup half a world away instead of the $750,000 race back home.

For 60 years – through three wars, the Beatles and the dawn of the digital age – the Santa Anita Handicap was the ultimate winter-time event, the target of every serious older racehorse from the days of Seabiscuit, Citation and Round Table to eras of Affirmed, Spectacular Bid, John Henry, Alysheba and Best Pal.

Then, in 1996, it wasn’t.