NEW YORK - So now that this whole pesky New York franchise-renewal mess seems to have been settled, when do the $150,000 maiden races at lavish new facilities begin?

Someday, possibly, but don't hold your breath.

ARCADIA, Calif. - For a young racing fan growing up in Southern California in the early 1960s, Saturday afternoons were holy. All lawns had to be mowed and edged, leaves raked, and the garage swept by four o'clock sharp, otherwise you would miss the one reliable chance to watch your game on TV, during the half-hour telecast from Santa Anita or Hollywood Park that was sponsored by Union 76 and hosted by Gil Stratton.

ARCADIA, Calif. - The last time he was seen in public, in the San Fernando Stakes on Jan. 12, Johnny Eves lost one of those heartbreaking, head-bobbing decisions that should be outlawed by the Geneva Conventions. It was that close.

Sharon and Carl Hilliard, who race as the Mooncoin Stable, were down on the track to greet their warrior after that experience. They are convinced he knew something had gone wrong.

NEW YORK - The Breeders' Cup Challenge and its "Win and You're In" catchphrase dominated television and print coverage of 24 races last summer and fall, but led to the presence of exactly one horse who might not otherwise have qualified and run: Purim, whose upset victory in the Shadwell Mile earned him an automatic berth in the Breeders' Cup Mile, where he finished 11th at 20-1. It's not even clear that his victory in that Grade 1 race alone, without WAYI, wouldn't have propelled him to the Mile, which had only 13 starters.

In the wake of Pyro's victory in the Risen Star Stakes last weekend, the punning and wordplay has been out of control. If the colt did not "blaze," he was "on fire" or "ignited" a rally that carried him to a "smoking" two-length win.

"I just thought you guys might like a name you could hang a few things on," owner Ron Winchell sheepishly admitted.

ARCADIA, Calif. - Call it Cushy-Pro. Call it Track-Ride. Call it Ian's Brew, or call it just plain Polymarvelous. Whatever the emergency crews at Santa Anita came up with in the dead of night last week appeared to work, enabling racing to return to Southern California over the latest manifestation of an all-weather synthetic surface.

WASHINGTON - The phrase "Silky Sullivan finish" became part of the American lexicon almost exactly 50 years ago, and it has been applied to anybody who rallies a huge deficit - whether it's a sports team mounting a fourth-period rally or a politician who once trailed badly in the polls. Yet few Thoroughbreds have truly merited a comparison to the California colt who came from so far behind in his 1958 races that he necessitated the invention of the split-screen in television coverage.

NEW YORK - The announcement Thursday that the Breeders' Cup will be run at Santa Anita in both 2008 and 2009 was not a proud moment for American racing. It betrayed the history and ideals of the event and cast an unfortunately accurate picture of a dysfunctional industry that is in crisis on several fronts.

While Cup officials are bravely maintaining that this is a positive experiment that may provide some marketing benefits, those involved in the process concede privately that they were making the best of a bad situation.

WASHINGTON - Three decades ago, a brilliant colt led all the way to win each of his starts as a 2-year-old. He captured the most important race for his age group and ran extraordinarily fast. Seattle Slew was hailed as a budding superstar, and he verified that assessment when he went on to sweep the Triple Crown.

ARCADIA, Calif. - Wayne Hughes is embarrassed, as in, embarrassment of riches. With less than three months left before they sing that song at Churchill Downs on the first Saturday in May, Hughes has two of the West's leading 3-year-olds - Into Mischief and Crown of Thorns - putting him in an enviable position that rarely happens, even to owners who spend a lifetime trying to get there.