NEW YORK - There is a tidal wave of important racing at Belmont, Keeneland, and Oak Tree's meet at Santa Anita this weekend, including nearly a dozen graded stakes that are both major events in their own right and key preps for the Breeders' Cup three weeks later. It's a boon for the game that nine races will be televised on national sports networks: Saturday's First Lady, Shadwell Mile, Lane's End Breeders' Futurity, Phoenix, and Champagne will be shown from 4 to 6 p.m.

ARCADIA, Calif. - When asked, Richard Mandella says that there are no plans for The Tin Man beyond Saturday's running of the Clement L. Hirsch Turf Championship at Santa Anita Park. Since he is polite, Mandella does not set loose the voice in his head that screams, "What numskull would ever make 'plans' for a 9-year-old racehorse anyway?"

Instead, Mandella and fans of The Tin Man rejoice each time the son of Affirmed strides into the paddock, takes a good look around with those wide, kind eyes, and shrugs, "Okay, here we go again."

ARCADIA, Calif. - For those who missed it, and shame on you if you did, this week's episode of "The Bachelor" used the races at Del Mar as a backdrop for what is loosely referred to as a "date," featuring a heavily tanned and glossed harem of women all hankering to get hitched to a male model posing as a sensitive millionaire. Del Mar looked good, too.

LEXINGTON, Ky. - I am back in the Bluegrass, peddling art.

Not the crude, garish stuff sold on the sidewalks of America, but beautiful, gleaming bronzes, glorious oils, captivating watercolors, and some of the greatest woodcarvings of horses ever carved.

The work has been sculpted, painted, and carved by artisans who know and love horses, how they move, their musculature, their appeal to men and women everywhere for centuries.

ARCADIA, Calif. - In the wake of the slam-bang finish of the Goodwood Stakes at Santa Anita last Saturday, when Santa Anita Derby winner Tiago held off a desperate surge from San Fernando Stakes winner Awesome Gem, a police helicopter began circling overhead, patrol cars raced through the stable gates, and a phalanx of mounted officers fell in line.

It was an impressive display of enforcement capabilities, but also a blatant over-reaction. Just because Mike Smith won two Grade 1 races in a single afternoon, that was no reason to call out the National Guard.

NEW YORK - The good news for Belmont bettors is that 10-cent superfectas are finally coming to New York Sunday. The bad news is that New York still has an antiquated rule in place requiring eight starters to run a superfecta, so there won't be one on the seven-horse Jockey Club Gold Cup.

If there were, and you thought Lawyer Ron was a cinch, a 6-all-all-all super would cost you a mere $12 for a dime instead of the usual $120 for $1. Of course the payoff would have to be $240 for $2 just for you to get your dozen dollars back, but that's why they call it gambling.

ARCADIA, Calif. - The Norfolk Stakes is always worth a shot. Two turns for 2-year-olds on a nice fall afternoon - let's see what you've got.

Last year's winner, Stormello, was nearly 12-1. Free House popped in the 1996 Norfolk at a juicy 9-1. Joe Steiner won his Norfolk Stakes when he cruised home at 12-1 aboard Saratoga Passage in 1987. And Money Lender gave Hall of Fame jockey John Longden a victory as a trainer in the 1973 version of the Norfolk, at 17-1 no less.

ARCADIA, Calif. - The Yellow Ribbon is the fashion statement that never changes and never goes out of style. Other races are like platform shoes and tongue studs, in and mercifully out of favor, while the appeal of the Yellow Ribbon never fades.

WASHINGTON, D. C. - In the age of simulcasting and betting via computer, American horseplayers can watch and wager on races from almost every track in the country. They can also play races on four other continents. So the addition of one more track to the crowded racing menu might not seem significant.

ARCADIA, Calif. - Jack Van Berg calls it the most humiliating thing that has ever happened to him in more than 50 years as a trainer.

Van Berg's place in the game is held firm by more than 6,000 winners, three classic victories, and a plaque in the Hall of Fame, so one tends to take him seriously when he makes such a statement. Here is what happened.