It is probably of very little consolation to Mark Casse that he is not the first trainer to have the rug pulled out from under a Belmont Stakes favorite at the 11th hour.

It happened to Hirsch Jacobs in 1970, when Personality, the winner of the Preakness and the Jersey Derby, developed a head cold after Belmont entries were taken and was sent to the bench.

It happened to D. Wayne Lukas in 1995, when Timber Country, the champion 2-year-old of his generation and the winner of the Preakness, spiked a 104-degree fever on the eve of the Belmont and had to be medicated.

Ideas. Remember them? Indoor plumbing, national parks, the interstate highway system. They confronted fundamental challenges and changed the culture, creating a better world in which fresh problems arose, but at least the old ones were forgotten.

For those who prefer their Thoroughbred racing spiced with gender-bending fillies and mares, the first dozen years of the 21st century were a giddy time to be alive.

As previously noted a few times in this space, I’m a big fan of what the New York Racing Association has created over the last few years with Belmont Stakes Day. I do have issues with the NYRA overloading some other Saturdays of the Belmont spring meet with stakes, leaving slim pickings on other days that should be better than they are. I mean, I’m still trying to get why three graded stakes were run at Belmont on May 6, four were run on May 13, and five will be run on July 8, yet the Memorial Day program didn’t have a single graded event.

The Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf came onto the scene in 1999 under pressure from owners and breeders who were frustrated that they had championship-quality horses with no place to run on racing’s most important day.

They were right.

The race has tested some of the best females in the world over the turf courses of eight different American tracks. Of the 18 runnings, 11 have been offered at 1 1/4 miles, seven at 1 3/8 miles, and one – the Keeneland running – at 1 3/16 miles.

As a cultural concept, the sound and substance of the “mile” has always been attractive.

Miracle Mile. Magic Mile. Mile High City. There’s “8 Mile,” a country mile, “Moonlight Mile,” and for smokers, “I’d walk a mile for a Camel.”

Horse racing is just as fascinated with the idea of the mile. No one said it was official, but apparently the game is celebrating Mile Day on Saturday, with events on both coasts that toast those Thoroughbreds who can do eight furlongs quickly, and with style.

Tom Taylor was leaning hard out of the clubhouse box and cheering his face blue as Goodyearforroses took it to Lady Eli at the top of the stretch in last weekend’s Grade 1 Gamely. For a giddy few strides, ‘Roses’ and Corey Nakatani appeared ready to collar Irad Ortiz Jr. and Lady Eli. But then, through a last, furious eighth of a mile, Lady Eli dug in to reach the line half a length to the good.

Gary Stevens had a few of the gang over not long ago for a good old-fashioned mudbug boil in the backyard of his home near Santa Anita. Kent Desormeaux and Jamie Theriot were there, lending Louisiana cred to the mass consumption of tasty crawfish, along with Mike Smith, who brought the wine, and Drayden Van Dyke, a young man who doesn’t mind hanging with his elders.

Those ancient souls who have seen way too many runnings of the Hollywood Gold Cup – now called the Gold Cup at Santa Anita – will squeeze their eyes shut tight and pretend that Saturday’s version of the 1 1/4-mile event fits neatly into a history that includes Round Table, Swaps, Cigar, Citation, Native Diver, Ack Ack, and Affirmed. I count myself among the dreamers.

In fact, the field assembled around heavily favored Midnight Storm is a respectable bunch, most of them graded stakes winners but none of them known far beyond their immediate family and friends.

Welcome to the Red Board Café, where the customer is always right.

For instance, on Monday morning, everybody in the place knew that Always Dreaming was a dead crab on the board for the Preakness, hovering as he was above even-money and going off at 6-5. The post-Derby spin painted him like the second coming of Smarty Jones, which means he should have been more like 70 cents on the dollar. Orb was 70 cents on the dollar, for Pete’s sake.