ARCADIA, Calif. - Someone once said that you go to war with the army you have, not the army you might want or wish to have, which pretty much describes the challenge faced by the Santa Anita racing department as it presents the tradition-rich San Pasqual Handicap on Saturday.

It takes some hard rubbing to bring out much marquee luster from the field drawn for the 1 1/16-mile event, although High Limit was once on some 2005 Kentucky Derby short lists, Spellbinder comes out of a good Native Diver effort, and Buckland Manor, now 6, is always game for a try.

ARCADIA, Calif. - Hot on the heels of the near miss by Bethany Frankel (Bobby's daughter) on Martha Stewart's version of "The Apprentice" comes another name familiar to horse racing fans, throwing his hat into the reality show ring and daring the world to watch.

Kenny Mayne, best known in these parts for his work as droll host and all-around smart-aleck on ESPN's national horse racing coverage, is one of 10 celebrities teaming up with professional dancers for the second season of ABC's "Dancing With the Stars."

Who knew?

ARCADIA, Calif. - Anyone who thought that Santa Anita Park had paid for all its sins during last year's rainswept meet were rudely awakened over the long holiday weekend with back-to-back storms that dropped four inches in three days and turned the main track into undercooked chocolate pudding.

The man in charge of maintaining some semblance of a safe racing surface is Steve Woods, and after 17 years as Santa Anita track superintendent, you would think he would have seen it all. But last weekend's one-two punch of rainstorms gave him something new to talk about.

NEW YORK - It appears that New York state will ring in the new year by throwing a little money toward the New York Racing Association, heading off a bankruptcy filing for now. If you think that is a happy ending that signals an end to New York's racing woes, you ain't seen nothing yet.

ARCADIA, Calif. - Once again, with humble apologies to those who have spun far better verse, and wishes of a happy, safe, and successful New Year of 2006. May it be the one you are waiting for:

Before the year gets underway,
This ode to beasts with feet of clay
Who labored long and hard for all
To watch them answer bugle's call.
A nod to those who did survive:
The heroes of two thousand five.

ARCADIA, Calif. - Racing's most squandered resource celebrated his 59th birthday on Thursday with a workout, a walk, a quiet afternoon, and dinner with the family.

ARCADIA, Calif. - Barry Schwartz was doing some good, old-fashioned yelling at the television screen in his New York farmhouse last Monday as Attila's Storm hit the top of the Santa Anita stretch with dead aim on victory in the opening-day Malibu Stakes.

Alas, it wasn't meant to be. Attila's Storm came up a length short of beating Proud Tower Too at the end of the seven furlongs, forcing Schwartz and his partners to settle for a solid second.

TUCSON, Ariz. - A new breed of big cat is prowling the parimutuel plains and prairies of North America.

It has big paws and three heads, but it is not a bigfoot.

This one is real.

With its acquisition of United Tote, Youbet.com has created a new animal for the parimutuel zoo.

Chuck Champion, refashioning Youbet.com into an entirely new creature, soon will have, under one roof, an online betting service; an off-shore-onshore rebate shop; and a tote company supplying a large number of racetracks in North America.

ARCADIA, Calif. - George Haines awoke Monday morning to drizzling gray skies and a prediction for more of the same. For Santa Anita's general manager, it was a worst-case opening-day scenario come true.

"At ten o'clock, I didn't think we were going to get anybody in the infield," Haines said later in the day. "They were going to have to sit on wet grass. We were going to end up with 25,000. But they stuck it out, and they came. Those are the people who make us go, our bread and butter. We all started coming here by going to the infield."

ARCADIA, Calif. - There was a time, and it feels like so very long ago, when no one in the stands gave a hoot about the suits in the executive suite, or what they had to say. Racetrack seasons opened, operated, closed and then opened again, while management remained relatively invisible, quietly presiding over a steady, reliable hum.