DEL MAR, Calif. - The praise being heaped upon Kathy Walsh for her work with the Del Mar Futurity winner Georgie Boy is well deserved. Winning a Grade 1 race is tough enough. Winning one in the face of the rampant sexism that has pervaded American racing through the decades adds an extra layer of polish to the achievement.

NEW YORK - Sometime in the year 2037 or so, if we're not all too busy playing the pick 14 on simulcasts from Mars, someone will realize that the New York Racing Association's franchise is expiring again. This time, the state of New York will unquestionably own Aqueduct, Belmont, and Saratoga, and there could be a very different outcome than the one announced last Tuesday, when Gov. Eliot Spitzer recommended that the NYRA be granted a 30-year franchise extension to operate the tracks.

DEL MAR, Calif. - The Polytrack surface at Del Mar generated more heat than light this summer, both literally, with surface temperatures sometimes topping 130 degrees Fahrenheit, and figuratively, led by the day Bob Baffert shipped his best babies east in an operatic huff.

POMONA, Calif. - The king of Fairplex Park still had business to tend to at Del Mar before he resumed his benign rule over all things Pomona. It was Labor Day, and the 2-year-old colt Wise Mandate was going postward in the I'm Smokin Stakes at odds of 26-1, an inspiring price that had Mel Stute worshipping at the altar of an automated teller in the Del Mar clubhouse mezzanine.

TUCSON, Ariz. - While Rome burns, racing fiddles.

You would think, with the sport in flames, issues of substance would occupy leaders of the sport. They have a wide selection.

Declining ontrack attendance.

Illegal medication.

Lack of media coverage.

Racing surfaces.

Whipping.

Who can treat horse's teeth.

I beg your pardon? What was that last one again?

DEL MAR, Calif. - Leandro Mora, top sergeant of the Doug O'Neill troops, was asked if he thought either of the 2-year-old colts representing the stable in the closing-day Del Mar Futurity had a chance to bring home the prize.

The disappointing lineup for last Saturday's Travers Stakes sent me scurrying to the attic archives for my handmade chart book from the 1987 Saratoga meeting, to recall what Travers fields used to look like: The first six finishers that day were Java Gold, Cryptoclearance, Polish Navy, Gulch, Bet Twice and Alysheba, all of them Grade 1 winners. As long as I'd found the book, it seemed like a good time to see what else has changed about Saratoga racing in 20 years.

DEL MAR, Calif. - Familiarity, at least in Thoroughbred racing, tends to breed winners instead of contempt, which is why the chances of Worldly and Izarra in Del Mar's major holiday weekend features are better than average, despite deep and competitive fields.

Fourteen 2-year-old fillies entered the Grade 1 Del Mar Debutante on Monday's Labor Day program. What this will look like coming out of the long seven-furlong chute can only be subject to speculation, since there has not been a Debutante field that large since 1968, and videotape was not a widespread technology.

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - Bob Baffert is the quintessential California horse trainer. His relaxed manner, casual style, and tousled silver hair make him a distinctive contrast with some of his suit-and-tie counterparts in the East. His training style is distinctly Californian, too; he relishes and knows how to hone Thoroughbreds' speed to take advantage of the West's speed-favoring tracks.

DEL MAR, Calif. - Chris McCarron was on his way to an orientation Thursday morning for the new school year at his North American Racing Academy, headquartered at the Kentucky Horse Park near Lexington. Awaiting him were 10 new students, wide-eyed, innocent, and determined to become professional jockeys.

It is McCarron's job to impress upon his young disciples the challenges of the job, the dangers, and the considerable responsibilities. Being a jockey is not all state dinners at the White House and offers to appear on "The Tonight Show," unless you're Calvin Borel.