Believe it or not, there are actual flesh-and-blood horse racing fans out there who are not similarly obsessed with all things pro football. In fact – and I know this stretches the bounds of accepted reality – there are solid American citizens who could give a rat’s patoot about anything having to do with the National Eff-Ell and, if given the right incentive, they might try turning to a diversion as exotic as betting on quality Thoroughbreds in ferocious action.

It took eight hours and 3,628 miles, but last week I found a way to feel just a little bit better about the state of Thoroughbred racing in the United States: I attended the annual Paris conference of the International Federation of Horseracing Authorities, and learned that we are not alone.

LAS VEGAS – Horseplayers love choices.

More tracks to bet on, more races to play, more horses in each race, more exotic wagers within each race, more multi-race wagers to play. Obviously there are some exceptions, people who want to play just one track or circuit or only certain wagers, and they certainly can choose to eschew the rest of the available options, but having all those choices allows everyone to make their own decision on how to play.

For some reason, the folks running the show at the Breeders’ Cup lost faith in their Sprint, and that’s too bad. Run at a whiplash six furlongs over some of the most venerable dirt in the land, the Sprint was the consummate American horse race – come one come all. Nearly every great champion has dealt with the distance at one time or another, and nearly every famous American racecourse can boast its own rich six-furlong lore.

Mike Pegram did not have the look of a man who’d just watched his two best colts come up light in the two of the high-powered races run at Santa Anita last Saturday. Coil, winner of the Haskell Invitational, finished third to the older Game On Dude and Awesome Gem in the Goodwood Stakes not long after Drill, the Del Mar Futurity hero, was beaten by Creative Cause in the Norfolk Stakes.

“What right do I have to be anything but happy to have a couple colts like that?” Pegram said.

No one in earshot argued.

The idea that an American-based racehorse could win the Breeders’ Cup Turf this or any other year in the foreseeable future has become one of those goofy, off-the-wall notions that has grown men holding their sides and falling off barstools.

LAS VEGAS – Wild indeed.

If you’re a baseball fan, you already know what I’m referring to after Wednesday night’s wild-card races came down to the final day, and late into the evening for East Coast fans in Boston, Atlanta, and Tampa. But I’ll try to give some perspective from Vegas as well as some thoughts that you haven’t seen pounding into the ground elsewhere.

Of all the stars falling from the skies on Saturday – they include Uncle Mo, Shackleford, Cape Blanco, Coil, Stacelita, Stay Thirsty, Big Drama, Game On Dude, and Ask the Moon – none will attract more deserving attention than the pair of 4-year-old fillies who have been trading blows over the past year on their way to what everyone hopes will be some sort of ultimate late-season showdown,

Autumn. It’s a lovely word, and generous, too, fully equipped with an extra letter in case you come up with an “n” missing later in the thought. Much better than “fall,” no question, because autumn means only one thing and fall is definitely not what you want to hear around a racetrack.

So now we must get used to what is being called the Santa Anita Autumn Meet, which commences on Friday and runs though Nov. 6. That’s 24 days, offering 22 advertised stakes, none worth more than $250,000 and most of the half-dozen big money events propped up by cash from the Breeders’ Cup Fund.

The Ralph M. Hinds Pomona Invitational Handicap wraps up the stakes action at the Fairplex Park meet Sunday with an entertaining bunch of older runners. But with its purse of only $75,000 for the second straight year, the message is clear: Racing at the county fair has reverted to its bullring, third-tier roots, and its 13 exclusive days of sport at a prime time of year are becoming a luxury the major players on the Southern California circuit have a right to question.