DEL MAR, Calif. - Standing side by side at the rail near the winner's circle, Victor Espinoza and Tyler Baze watched the drama at the top of the stretch of last Sunday's Clement L. Hirsch Handicap unfold over and over on the big video board in the Del Mar infield.

As reruns go, it wasn't exactly vintage "Baywatch."

DEL MAR, Calif. - On Monday morning in Saratoga Springs, N.Y., a group of men will assemble at the National Racing Museum for a team photo. Some of them will be wearing matching blue blazers with identical pocket patches. Others, arriving straight from work, will be less formally attired. Any of them, however, would be able to answer a common question posed by local tourists:

"Hey, buddy, how do you get to the Hall of Fame?"

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - Nick Zito has faced three decisions this month about whether to go short or go long, and the score so far is 1-1 with the third still up in the air.

DEL MAR, Calif. - The running joke between jump jockeys and flat jockeys goes something like this:

Jump jockeys think flat jocks are off their collective rockers, because no one in their right mind would ever ride a horse going that fast.

Flat jockeys, on the other hand, think jump jockeys are nuts to do what they do, because too many things can happen when a horse takes flight, and in the world of flat racing, none of them are good.

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - Some racetrackers get stuck with an inappropriate nickname their entire career, but the two that stuck to the jockey whose mounts have earned more than anyone else's in racing history always fit: Pat (Pay) Day, and Pat (Wait All) Day.

DEL MAR, Calif. - Pat Day has retired, freezing forever his glorious list of numbers and accomplishments, and the news has caused a considerable stir, as it should whenever a widely respected Hall of Famer such as Day hangs up his spikes.

DEL MAR, Calif. - Sen. John McCain (R-Turf Paradise), a man on everyone's short list to run for president in 2008, told everyone back home that he was heading for San Diego last weekend to speak at the July 30 commissioning ceremonies for the USS Halsey, the newest Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer in the American Navy.

DEL MAR, Calif. - The greater racing world can be forgiven if it neglects to take the Bing Crosby Handicap seriously. After all, the race itself is named for a guy who answered to "Der Bingle" and used to play second fiddle to a pile of fruit on Carmen Miranda's head. The winners of three of the last six runnings are currently employed as stable ponies, and the majority of the fans witnessing Sunday's 59th running will be woozy from an afternoon of pounding down fish tacos and whiskey sours.

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - On opening day, a D. Wayne Lukas-trained filly rallies from off the pace to win the 2-year-old filly stakes in very slow time. On day two, a 2-year-old colt turns in a dazzling performance that stamps him the nation's leading juvenile and a heavy favorite for the Hopeful.

If that summary has a familiar ring, it's because it applies identically to the opening of both the 2004 and 2005 Saratoga meetings.

DEL MAR, Calif. - The San Clemente Handicap is normally a quiet little Del Mar grass race that makes very few headlines and even fewer reputations. This summer, however, it has become the most popular race in town, with nominations spilling onto the floor and enough potential entries to fill two attractive events.