DEL MAR, Calif. - From time to time, a horse racing telecast will toss in a new wrinkle, a gimmick, a gee-whiz technological doodad designed to give viewers something to remember beyond the customary sight of well-coiffed talking heads.

There have been helicopter shots, blimp shots, isolated cameras and tracking cameras on high wires. They have used cameras and/or microphones on starting gates, stewards, jockey helmets, outriders, owners, trainers, jockeys, and assorted spouses and children of owners, trainers, and jockeys.

DEL MAR, Calif. - Thad Ackel, known best in the Thoroughbred game for his work with the Breeders' Cup Turf winner Great Communicator, is a New Orleans homeboy who now finds a large slice of his personal past submerged beneath the flood waters spilling over the levees. He has a home in Shreveport, to the north, and a condo in Metarie, a New Orleans suburb hit hard by flooding.

DEL MAR, Calif. - It was just a routine little allowance race, with an optional set of claiming conditions, run on a mild and breezy Monday afternoon at Del Mar.

The crowd numbered around 8,400, which is about as low as it goes at Del Mar, especially on a day that leaned heavily toward the beach, the links, or the hammock on the condo porch. Those in attendance, however, were handed a treat, wrapped in a sleek bay package and delivered in 1:32.86 - the fastest turf mile among fillies and mares at the nearly completed meet.

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - Last Saturday's four important stakes races at Saratoga came close to perfection on two different fronts. They not only showcased outstanding horses in two hours of sublime sport, but also raised plenty of intriguing questions for the fall championship season ahead. Leroidesanimaux, First Samurai, Lost in the Fog, and Flower Alley were decisive and deserving winners, but each will face tougher tasks in the weeks ahead up to and including the Breeders' Cup Oct. 29.

DEL MAR, Calif. - Greg Gilchrist was back home at his Golden Gate barn Monday morning receiving slaps on the back for a fabulous weekend, which included a considerable rooting interest in the impressive Del Mar Debutante performance of Wild Fit. The Debutante winner is a daughter of Wild Wonder, who was trained by Gilchrist to win seven stakes and more than $600,000 in the late 1990's.

"I missed the race, doggonit," Gilchrist said. "But it looks like he's finally come up with a real runner, and good for him. I've got a share in that stud."

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - Owners of high-priced Thoroughbreds invariably put their horses in the care of a few elite trainers - men such as Bobby Frankel, Todd Pletcher, Nick Zito, and Bob Baffert - as if those men have a monopoly on the skills needed to win big stakes races. Yet when seasoned trainers from the supposed minor leagues unexpectedly find a top horse in their barns, they often distinguish themselves.

DEL MAR, Calif. - To the untrained eye, Sunday's running of the $250,000 Del Mar Handicap resembles just about every other major long-distance grass race offered in California over the past two years.

The main players never seem to change, like characters in a long-running sitcom, in which Continental Red, Runaway Dancer, Sarafan, and Continuously could just as easily be referred to as Jerry, George, Elaine, and Kramer.

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - Saratoga is guaranteeing a $1 million pool for the all-stakes pick four here Saturday linking the Fourstardave, the Hopeful, the King's Bishop, and the Travers. There's no question the pool will soar well past that amount for the parade of stars in that two hours of all-star sport, but there's no guarantee that the payoff's going to be more than about $24.60.

DEL MAR, Calif. - There are no quiet winners of the Del Mar Debutante. Success in this particular seven furlongs is impossible to hide, which means no matter who takes the prize, expectations will run unnaturally high.

The last two winners - Sweet Catomine and Halfbridled - went on to take the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies and the Eclipse Award as champion of the division. Chilukki, the 1999 Debutante winner who was second in her Breeders' Cup attempt, was a champion as well.

Tucson, Ariz. - It was treated as routine news last Sunday when it was announced at The Jockey Club Round Table in Saratoga Springs, but it was not routine. It was the most important and significant racing story of this year, or any recent year.

The creation of an equine drug research institute is monumental news, not because of the event, but because of the man who will run it.