LAS VEGAS – Week 1 of the NFL season was a roller-coaster ride for bettors and bookmakers here (and elsewhere), and we loved every twist and turn.

If Martin Pedroza is going to maintain his amazing pace and win practically one out of every two races he rides during the Fairplex Park meeting in Pomona, it is only fair to pose the obvious question:

Why can’t he win them all?

For enlightenment, agent Richie Silverstein was approached for his thoughts on the issue. As Pedroza’s agent, Silverstein is the man putting his jockey on all those winners, and lately relatively few losers. Through the first four cards, they had won with 20 of 41 mounts.

One of the undocumented trends of racing during the last few years has been the decline in quality of European imports to the United States.

The ruling by the Del Mar board of stewards that left Twirling Candy the winner of last Sunday’s Del Mar Derby continues to rub some racing fans raw.

Horse racing has a public-relations problem. No, not that one. Not that one either. Okay, horse racing has a lot of public-relations problems, stacked up like planes trying to land at O’Hare. Dealing with them one at a time keeps the honest brokers working around the clock, and more power to them. But there is one nasty itch that is starting to spread like a rash – less than an epidemic but more than a trend – and people are beginning to notice.

Kentucky Derby winners are really starting to leave a lot to be desired.

The long wait is over, and I’m not talking about the kids being back in school, though many cheers were heard throughout the land. No, I’m talking about the NFL season kicking off. The preseason whet the appetite, and last weekend’s college football action brought the sports books here to life, but nothing compares to NFL football on the betting boards.

Raising the takeout always leads to lower handle and unhappy customers and is the last resort for struggling track operators. The increases that the California legislature has approved and that will become effective Dec. 26 once the bill is signed into law by the governor, who supports them, are particularly onerous despite the California Horse Racing Board’s attempt to portray them as reasonable and consistent with the rates in other states.

LAS VEGAS – Thursday night saw the end of fake football, with all 32 NFL teams wrapping up their exhibition schedule and the kickoff of the college football season.

The sports books here are celebrating like it’s a holiday – which we have with the long Labor Day Weekend – and are gearing up for a nearly full slate of NCAA games, with every ranked team in action, and then getting everyone ready for the NFL regular season to start next weekend.

The ink-stained wretches who pound out the daily product find themselves – ourselves – clinging for moral support to a few rocky crags that never let us down.

One of those comes wrapped in the person of Ronnie Virgets, a former writer for Daily Racing Form , the New Orleans Times-Picayune, and Gambit Weekly, and a two-time Eclipse Award winner, for what that’s worth.

Let’s say a player figured out somehow that the winner of the Hollywood Gold Cup would finish absolutely last in the Pacific Classic. If there was a bet for that, after what happened to Awesome Gem last Saturday at Del Mar – ca-ching!