SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - What happened to the horseplayers who bet on Carnera in the seventh race at Saratoga last Saturday may have been one of the most perverse outcomes in the annals of parimutuel wagering.

DEL MAR, Calif. - In any battlefield situation, the legion of wounded will always outnumber the dead. In Iraq, for instance, there have been 2,597 American soldiers killed in combat, while another 10,547 have suffered wounds but survived, for now. In Vietnam, the totals were 47,410 combat fatalities, 153,303 wounded.

DEL MAR, Calif. - People who care about Thoroughbred racing may look with interest on the travails of professional cycling and the disgrace of Floyd Landis, who will almost certainly be disqualified from his victory in the Tour de France.

DEL MAR, Calif. - Richard Mandella was East Coast jet-lagged and operating on about four hours of sleep, and yet there he was Wednesday morning, watching a turf worker from high atop the patrol tower just past the Del Mar finish line, then threatening to grab the railings of the almost vertical iron ladder and slide dramatically to the ground.

"On second thought," he said, checking the angle, "maybe it wouldn't be such a good idea."

No wonder he's in the Hall of Fame.

TUCSON, Ariz. - The $1 million Haskell and and $1.5 million Hambletonian and the 70,000 people who turned out to see them, along with Marylou Whitney's return from a stroke for her namesake race at Saratoga, grabbed racing headlines over the weekend.

The attention was deserved, but the longterm significance was overshadowed by a development far more important for the world of horse racing.

DEL MAR, Calif. - There is something to be said for staying at home, in a comfort zone, where the smells and sounds are familiar, the fridge is always full, and the car is tucked away safely in the garage. Home, let's face it, is where your stuff is.

In an admirable career of 21 starts - nine of them victories and all for trainer John Sadler - the 5-year-old mare Healthy Addiction has let it be known in no uncertain terms that she is a home office kind of girl, and that the romance of the road is nothing but a nasty rumor.

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - The second-most interesting thing that former National Thoroughbred Racing Association commissioner Tim Smith said at Tuesday's Albany Law School forum on racing - after confirming that he is indeed an investor in the Empire Racing Associates group seeking the New York Racing Association franchise - was that the entire bidding process was likely to create some unusual and unexpected alliances in the racing world.

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - The current Battle of Saratoga is the battle for Saratoga, Aqueduct, and Belmont and the franchise to operate them beginning in 2008. The first formal skirmish was this past Tuesday's annual Albany Law School racing forum, where three of the leading bidders for the franchise made their first public presentations of why they should be given the keys to the tracks.

DEL MAR., Calif. - At Del Mar, where horse racing is usually idyllic, where the sun is almost always shining, where enthusiastic crowds enjoy the relaxed ambience of the oceanside track, one development this season has cast a deep shadow.

DEL MAR, Calif. - Bordonaro is not simply a majestic chestnut who ranks among the finest sprinters in the land. He is also the kind of horse who will stop in his tracks and look you right in the eye, ears cocked forward, all systems humming.

Such animals are described as alert, intelligent, curious. They are the hyper-vigilant members of the herd, on constant lookout for lions and tigers and bears.

And whips. Oh my.