I have been waiting all fall for the 2-year-old colts to start running fast. I am still waiting, but I was finally encouraged by a performance. I loved everything about Mohaymen in Saturday’s Remsen – tactical speed, ability to relax behind horses on the inside, willingness to split horses in the stretch, the instant acceleration that has been winning races forever, and the career-best 94 Beyer, the second-best figure by any 2-year-old male in 2015.

A race like the Matriarch at Del Mar on Sunday serves as a happy reminder that it is okay to trust in one important attraction to carry the day.

There are four graded stakes at Aqueduct on Saturday, including the Cigar Mile, the last Grade 1 race in New York until the Carter Handicap and Wood Memorial next April. It’s a quartet worth watching, highlighted by some very quick 2-year-olds stretching out in the Remsen and some admirable veterans in the Cigar Mile, even though the way the races have been carded leaves something to be desired.

He was doing okay until they started calling the names.

Dan Hendricks, friend of the family, was sitting in his wheelchair on the tarmac of the Miramar Air Station in San Diego on the afternoon of Nov. 13 as the memory of Maj. Taj Sareen was celebrated by his fellow Marines.

You can review hundreds of races and not see many quite like the Cigar Mile at Aqueduct, with a horse having five consecutive triple-digit Beyer Speed Figures, another with eight straight, and, finally, the obvious favorite and defending champ with 10 straight if you throw out a grass experiment that got him ready for the real races.

If there were a pack of lions roaming the Belmont backstretch, Red Vine would be the only gazelle.

In his last three starts, Red Vine has been third in the Pacific Classic, second in the Kelso Handicap, and third in the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile. The favorites for those races were named Beholder, Honor Code, and Liam’s Map.

On Saturday, Red Vine will try to shed his reputation as high-class cannon fodder when he takes on stablemate Tonalist and defending champ Private Zone in the $500,000 Cigar Mile at Aqueduct.

The Eclipse Awards dinner is set for Jan. 16 at Gulfstream Park, which means the sponsors have less than two months to figure out a way to make it exciting. Right now, the event figures to provide about as much drama as the 1998 Academy Awards.

Best Picture? “Titanic.”

Best Director? “Titanic.”

Best score, sound, cinematography, editing? “Titanic,” “Titanic,” “Titanic,” “Titanic.”

My “L.A. Confidential” never had a chance.

If horse racing would like to adorn its product with the French tricolor in solidarity and sympathy with a nation traumatized by terrorist attacks, look no further than Saturday’s Red Carpet Handicap at Del Mar.

The results of a Daily Racing Form survey on medication last month attracted scant attention when published Oct. 26, understandable since entries had just been taken for the Breeders’ Cup races later that week. They are worth another look, however, as they contained a key finding that contradicts a theory that many in the industry have been promoting for years.

Exaggerator is almost certainly going to be the favorite in the Delta Jackpot at Delta Downs on Saturday, with Beyer Speed Figures of 85, 86, and 84, all in stakes against strong company, including a solid fourth behind Nyquist in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile. There is little negative to say about this colt other than the possibility, not necessarily the probability, that he has peaked.