SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - Horse racing suffers from no shortage of opinions. Almost every track's closed-circuit TV features handicappers offering analysis and making picks. The two national racing channels devote more of their air time to talking about races than to televising them.

In sifting through the field for the California Thoroughbred Trainers and Thoroughbred Owners of California Handicap on Friday at Del Mar – gratefully run at 1 3/8 miles on the grass because that’s how long it takes to recite the formal name of the race – the eye settles upon one entrant that should take a lot of money from the players who use irony as a handicapping tool.

Every summer at Saratoga, as if the tomatoes and lemonade depended on his blessing, Fourstardave would appear fresh and ready for action, winning race after race until, at age 10, he finally said goodbye.

Every summer at Del Mar, certain as the tides and the setting of the sun, Native Diver would strut his stuff, turning the top handicaps into his own private stage right up to one last, track-record showstopper at age 8.

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – The most tangible and promising development to emerge from last Sunday’s Jockey Club Round Table here was a commitment by the Jockey Club to spend some real money developing a nationally televised racing series as soon as next year.

No one really likes standing in line, but there’s one group here in Las Vegas that isn’t minding it as much this year: football contest players.

It sure beats the alternative, which would have been no pro football season if the NFL owners’ lockout of the players hadn’t been resolved.

How tough was it to get into the field for the Del Mar Oaks? Tough enough. The three fillies who failed to draw into the original body of the field are trained by Hall of Famers Ron McAnally, Richard Mandella and Jerry Hollendorfer.

No one stands on ceremony at this level, though. Achievement must be reflected in black and white, and the tyranny of the group and graded race systems prevails, with placings in such events taking precedent when it comes to admission.

Bad news, good news - and the bad first, because it really is bad.

If it prevails, it will affect the runners as well as the trotters and pacers.

Upon entering two or more contenders in a big race like Sunday’s $250,000 John C. Mabee Stakes at Del Mar, Charlie Whittingham would arch one of those animated eyebrows and pronounce:

“We got ’em surrounded.”

A.C. Avila won’t go that far, but he is proud to lay claim to a pair of runners in this year’s field of eight, even if the other half dozen are as salty a bunch as you can find this side of Arlington’s Beverly D.

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – The Jockey Club Round Table here Sunday morning, the sport’s annual attempt to assess its standing and discuss its future, could not be coming at a better time.

In case the mind wanders, which can happen around the racetrack, there is a gorgeous piece of statuary at Arlington Park commemorating the running of the first Arlington Million, in which John Henry got the nod on a tenacious opponent named The Bart after 1 1/4 miles over deep and soggy ground.