After the Breeders Cup, I took my foot off the pedal and coasted to the end of the year. The long campaign left me somewhat burned out so I dialed down my intensity while keeping my head in the game. I pulled back on preparation as I tried to regenerate my eyes, my mind, and body. In order to remain productive and try to keep the endless scale of learning active, I played with a small bankroll using percentage of bankroll to avoid busting. I also maintained a disciplined approach so I would be ready when the time came to dive back in.

Gather around, pilgrims, and hear a tale of two Davids – Whiteley and Hofmans – two of the most accomplished trainers the Thoroughbred sport has ever known.

There is more to compare than contrast. They were born just a year apart, Hofmans in 1943 and Whiteley in ’44, and they learned their trade in an atmosphere destined for the Hall of Fame: Whiteley from his father, Frank, and Hofmans from Gary Jones and his father, Farrell.

The following, which has been addressed in this space before, is not jockey bashing. However, when jockeys alter the established running styles of horses, whether in concert with the connections they ride for or on their own, it has repercussions on the game that are far deeper than many might realize.

Apparently, it is still good to be Victor Espinoza.

In two weeks, Espinoza will be in Dubai to ride California Chrome in the $10 million World Cup – a bigger, stronger, and possibly faster version of the California Chrome who finished second in the race last year.

Picking a Kentucky Derby winner is sometimes as much about bragging rights as it is about winning money. People spend all winter trying to figure out which horse is going to win the race, and handicappers employ a number of different approaches – looking at the major preps, trainers, historical angles, pace scenarios, post position, pedigree, owners, jockeys, or any combination of factors.

Racing’s worst reality-TV show returned to the airwaves after a three-month hiatus Thursday with a one-hour meeting of the New York Racing Association Reorganization Board. The largely government-appointed NYRARB was established by New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo in 2012 to replace the old NYRA board he had dissolved. It has held 24 meetings, all of them streamed live on the Internet as part of Cuomo’s demands for “accountability” and “transparency.”

As far as the Jerkens family is concerned, the racing landscape of the United States pretty much ends at the I-65 corridor running from the Gulf of Mexico to Lake Michigan, which has allowed them the luxury to roam among the jurisdictions of New York, Florida, Kentucky, and the various points east without fear of resetting their watches.

If the picture from Santa Anita goes all streaky and gray on Saturday afternoon, don’t panic. Do not adjust your set. You are probably watching the final furlong of the $300,000 San Carlos Stakes, and that could be Kobe’s Back and Calculator locked together in full flight to the wire in the best seven-furlong race to be run anywhere so far this year. Also, the grayest.

My memory on this only goes back to the 1970s, but I do not remember a year when we have gotten to mid-March and the country’s four best 3-year-olds were unbeaten in 21 combined starts, with two of them having not been tested. Somebody with a better memory certainly can correct me, but this all seems unprecedented.

It’s amazing the perspective just one week can give you.

Last week at this time, we were appreciating, among other things, the very impressive stakes victories at Gulfstream Park by a pair of highly talented 3-year-old fillies – Cathryn Sophia and Catch a Glimpse. Cathryn Sophia’s demolition of her Davona Dale field, and Catch a Glimpse’s turn of foot in the Herecomesthebride Stakes were displays of high class, and still remain so.