Give Santa Anita Park management credit for rallying in spite of its half of the Sunshine Millions racing program being yanked from its menu of attractions. What is now being offered on Saturday in Arcadia is still very sunshiny, and sort of milliony.

The HBO series “Luck” begins on a day at Santa Anita with a huge pick-six jackpot, and there couldn’t be a more vivid illustration of the racing world’s dichotomy. Santa Anita is as beautiful as any track on earth. Every shot of its majestic mountain backdrop and its elegant paddock, populated by high-class Thoroughbreds, evokes the grandeur of the sport. But a when a pick six is beckoning, the racetrack community is feverishly obsessed by the wager, with gamblers scheming to get information, raise a bankroll, and obtain any edge that could lead to them to a life-altering score.

Let this serve as an official “welcome back” from purgatory for the Santa Monica Stakes, nee Handicap, to be run Saturday at a warm and festive Santa Anita Park.

Kids start getting excited about Christmas before Thanksgiving. Little girls shop for Easter bonnets as the winter snows begin to melt, and there are enterprising young men who stock up on Fourth of July fireworks even as the excitement of Valentine’s Day fades.

There’s no sense in waiting until the last minute, is the point.

LAS VEGAS – Sports is the best reality TV out there.

There’s breakups and makeups. One day you’re smelling like a rose and the next you’re booted off the island. You never know what’s going to happen next, and that’s even more true with sports compared with some of the lame shows with plot twists that you can see coming from a mile away.

Joe Talamo celebrated his 22nd birthday last week not with a magnum of Cristal, or a cruise to Cancun, or a new Louis Vitton golf bag, although he could have. Instead, Talamo shopped more practically for the occasion, making a trip to his local Ace Hardware to buy a crowbar in order to pry what had become a nagging, worthless monkey from off his back.

When Thoroughbred racing's top honors were announced at the Eclipse Awards ceremonies Monday, few of the winners inspired enthusiasm. The year 2011 was a poor one for the sport, and its outstanding performer, the filly Havre de Grace, may be the weakest runner to win the Horse of the Year title in modern times.

Sitting down to an old-fashioned session with a personal computer late Monday evening, after staggering home from the Eclipse Awards Dinner in Beverly Hills, I was shocked – shocked! – to learn that it had been televised.

After two years of genuine uncertainty, excitement, and controversy over who would be the Horse of the Year, the climactic announcement at Monday night’s Eclipse Awards ceremonies appears to be a foregone conclusion: Havre de Grace did not have as sparkling a season as Rachel Alexandra or Zenyatta when they ran 1-2 at the polls in 2009, or as Zenyatta and Blame in 2010, but she appears to have no serious competition for the 2011 award.

From just about every angle it was a bloodless, dreary year. Three different colts won the three legs of the Triple Crown. The older horses were notable only for their inclination to share the wealth, while the leading mare managed to beat the boys in one of their biggest races. There was a turf horse who was clearly best at what he did, but it was, after all, on turf. As for the 2-year-olds, the top colt was exciting but had a hiccup in his final start, and the best filly won the right races from an otherwise modest crop.