ARCADIA, Calif. - If there were an Eclipse Award on Monday night for persistence in the face of negative reinforcement, Papa Clem would have to be in the final three.

From that moment in Hot Springs last April, when he beat hotshot favorite Old Fashioned and an up-and-comer named Summer Bird in the $1 million Arkansas Derby, Papa Clem was thrown time after time into the deep end of the pool. He never got much more than hot, wet, and dirty, but he kept showing up, and for that he earned begrudging respect as a colt who wouldn't take no for an answer.

TUCSON, Ariz. - It is almost 1,000 miles from Toronto, Ontario, to Collinsville, Ill., and the two cities - one big and bustling, the other small and downtrodden - have little in common. Racing events in the last week, however, linked the two in interesting fashion.

In Toronto, Rod Seiling, perhaps best remembered as a defenseman for the New York Rangers of the National Hockey League in the early 1970s, with a longtime interest in harness racing, now is chairman of the Ontario Racing Commission.

NEW YORK - If you bet 50 pounds on a horse to win at odds of 8-13, how much would you get back if successful?

A question that has long plagued the customers of British bookmakers, it may soon become a problem of the past as the British betting industry begins implementing a major change in the way bets are made.

ARCADIA, Calif. - It is unreasonable to expect that 2010 will be a year for fillies and mares quite like 2009 was a year for fillies and mares. Only those who believe in avatars and fairytales would dare to hope for any kind of encore to the excitement generated by Rachel Alexandra, Goldikova, Vodka, Ventura, and Zenyatta.

Still, it can't hurt to try. Every star comes from somewhere. On Sunday at Santa Anita, there will be a jumble of screen tests for fillies who have just turned 3, 25 of them in all, spread over three races on the nine-race card.

ARCADIA, Calif. - The sad, baffling death of retired trainer Cotton Tinsley earlier this week, from a fall down a deep ravine alongside a famous stretch of Southern California mountain road, reawakened some good memories of a fine man who placed his hands on more classy horseflesh than most folks could ever imagine existed.

And then he moved his toes.

Michael Straight was on the phone Tuesday afternoon with his twin brother, Matthew, a jockey at Tampa Bay Downs. Michael and his parents have rented a house just up the road in Gainesville, Fla., not far from the Brooks Center for Rehabilitation. The brothers were talking about Michael's feet, and the chances he would ever be able to use them again after fracturing four vertebrae in a one-horse crash at Arlington Park last summer.

And then he moved his toes.

NEW YORK - Eclipse Award ballots are due Monday at 3 p.m. Eastern time, and even voters who have made their decision about Horse of the Year are faced with four other difficult choices among the 11 remaining equine divisional championships.

ARCADIA, Calif. - The one, potentially apocalyptic encounter between Bill Mott and Bobby Frankel occurred on the afternoon of Oct. 28, 1995, in the paddock at Belmont Park, when Frankel demanded that Cigar's hind shoes be inspected for what he thought were possible violations. This was about 10 minutes before post time for the $3 million Breeders' Cup Classic.

That's all there is? Year gone again?

Must have been napping, steeped in gin

Or otherwise distracted, yes,

By business woes, an awful mess

That ate away at racing's core

While true believers ran the store.

The year flashed by in neon bright

With names that echoed through the night:

I Want Revenge, so come Well Armed.

Hot Dixie Chick, sound the alarm.

Telling, Flashing, She Be Wild,

Zensational, that summer child.

Seattle so Smooth, Life Is Sweet,

Candyman Can proved quite a treat.

TUCSON, Ariz. - The sight of the speaker of the Massachusetts House, powerful Robert DeLeo, out on the sidewalk in front of Macy's department store in busy Downtown Crossing in Boston last week, hustling funds for the needy along with the Salvation Army bellringers, must have startled even the unflappable Bostonians, among the most sophisticated of our breed.

When reporters and photographers showed up - surprise, surprise - DeLeo was happy to unburden himself of thoughts besides charity and philanthropy.