Fans should expect a kinder, gentler Sunshine Millions at Santa Anita on Saturday, reflecting in some ways the sober nature of the times. There will be no microbrew festival, no skydivers, no horseback acrobatics. There will be a swimsuit contest - as mandated by the California Horse Racing Board - and a premium giveaway, in this case an AM/FM radio. But batteries, alas, are not included.

ARCADIA, Calif. This time last year, trainer Carla Gaines was putting the finishing touches on her pride and joy, Nashoba s Key, in anticipation of her 2008 debut in the Sunshine Millions Filly and Mare Turf, to be run at Santa Anita. To that point, Nashoba s Key had lost exactly once in her career of eight races, that being a troubled fourth over terrible ground in the Breeders Cup at Monmouth Park. She was forgiven.

ARCADIA, Calif. - For a nation gripped in a bitter winter of cold weather and economic uncertainty, distracted only momentarily by Inauguration Day, it seems almost in poor taste to stage something as frivolous as a Sunshine Millions. There hasn't been a whole lot of either lately.

The death of Joe Hirsch on Jan. 9 at the age of 80 has occasioned numerous wonderful tributes to his life and career, in these pages and elsewhere, many with a common theme: That while he was the sport's most decorated and respected turf writer for half a century, his achievements on the printed page were secondary to his character and to the way he touched the lives of literally hundreds of friends and colleagues.

With the announcement this week that Alice Headley Chandler will be honored with the Eclipse Award of Merit, two of the last three winners now have been women. What's the game coming to?

ARCADIA, Calif. - Let no one ever say that John Shirreffs does not suffer for his art.

Better known at his local Whole Foods store as the man who buys wheat grass and essential oils in bulk, Shirreffs took the honorable description of hands-on horseman to painful extremes last year. He began 2008 in a sling, nursing an arm fractured by a swift kick, and ended the year with a significant hitch in his get-along - picture Walter Brennan as Amos McCoy - thanks to a freakish accident in November.

In a Hall of Fame career that spanned 32 years, Jerry Bailey could remember only a couple of times that a horse he was riding suffered what could be generically described as a heart attack.

"Both of them were in training, and neither one was at a dead run," Bailey said this week, not long after hearing about the death of 2008 Pacific Classic winner Go Between on Monday from some kind of cardiac event. "They give you a very lethargic feel, like going down to second gear or a car running out of gas, then they seem to lose all coordination."

TUCSON, Ariz. - Failed revolutions are fascinating to watch, particularly in real time.

The current movie "Valkyrie" spells that out, telling of one of the most famous coups, albeit with a bit of poetic license allowed all wartime interpretations in Hollywood.

There is no substitute for living through the actual thing, however, and there are those of us in racing who are doing that, right now, complete with daring gambles and fallen leaders.

ARCADIA, Calif. - Take your time when you say his name, and enjoy. Agapito Delgadillo. Agapito Delgadillo. It tumbles off the tongue, eight lilting beats to the bar, rich with a Mexican heritage that traces to the horse-crazy region of Jalisco and the grand old Hippodromo de las Americas in Mexico City.

When I first saw Joe Hirsch he was 46, an enthusiastic bachelor and bona fide racing celebrity, out West for a big race and dancing with a beautiful blonde at a Santa Anita party. A beautiful blonde I'd tried to date. At that moment I knew in my bones that if I worked hard and paid attention I might have a chance to be as good a writer as Hirsch some day, but I'd always be half the man.