If 54,289 thoroughbred fans hadn’t showed up, way over the guesstimates of those concerned with such matters, could a record live handle of $14.7 million been set here, more than twice as money as people bet on Smarty Jones’ Belmont Stakes card?

And business records didn’t stop there. Simulcast handle reached $107 million and co-mingled handle topped $120 million. In all, more than $122 million was bet on eight races featuring purses of $15.7 million, another record.

Had Jerry Dale Bailey decided to retire at the end of last season and not show up Breeders’ Cup XXII, could another rider have cajoled 10 furlongs from Saint Liam, now the favorite for 2005 Horse of the Year? Obviously, Bailey never would have won a fifth Classic, a record for jockeys in America‘s richest horse race.

If Daisy Phipps had not showed up to watch Pleasant Home finish a strong, bias-hindered second in the Grade 1 Spinster at Keeneland earlier this month and convince her father to show up with his filly Saturday, would Shug McGaughey have won his third Distaff?

Those that show up for the World Championships did make a difference, both positive and negative. First, the disappointments.

All four Breeders’ Cup champions back to defend their titles were defeated. The most notable was Ashado, third in Pleasant Home’s Distaff. Had she finished second, she would have been the leading money-winning filly of all time. Instead, her tough, arduous campaign was, perhaps, the difference in her narrow loss of place to Society Selection in a shocking Distaff.

The European turf mare Ouija Board ran better than many expected she would, but her late rally failed to catch loose leading Intercontinental. Mile defender Singletary found yesterday’s yielding ground, officially "good," a bit more demanding than the yielding ground he negotiated at Lone Star Park last year. As for Better Talk Now, he made a strong mid-race move toward the Turf leaders approaching head-stretch but floundered in the final furlong.

Todd Pletcher could have had a better day. Indeed, he avoided a shutout by taking the Discovery on the undercard, but then could muster only a strong placing by Travers winning Flower Alley in Saint Liam’s Classic. Given as poorly as Flower Alley ran in the Jockey Club Gold Cup, that is no small consolation. The late developing 3-year-old has license to become a strong handicap presence at 4.

While he ran well, First Samurai’s initial defeat in his fifth lifetime start had to be disconcerting to his people. Clearly, his enervating effort while winning the Champagne, his second Grade 1 of the year and one more than likely champion Stevie Wonderboy, took a toll Saturday. A hard race, an apparent bleeding incident in the Champagne, and only three weeks of recovery time, was not a recipe for success.

Leroidesanimeaux may not be the second coming of Lure, not while wearing two aluminum pads, anyway, but the two-time Grade 1 winner probably did enough to hang on to his lead in the grass division. The good news for racing fans is that he is scheduled to return in 2006.

Other notable losers were Borrego, who went in seeking a Horse of the Year title but only got hot and dirt, finishing 10th after a lackluster five-wide bid; Afleet Alex, who probably would have been the leading Horse of the Year candidate had the Classic been won by anyone other than Saint Liam, and Paul Makin, who ponied up $800,000 to run Starcraft in the Classic and lost his best chance at last Wednesday’s post draw.

The biggest loser, of course, was Lost In The Fog. He very likely will retain his lead in the Eclipse sprint category but the colt and trainer Greg Gilchrist had a lot more at stake; a Horse of the Year title, an Eclipse for the trainer and perhaps another for owner Harry Aleo.

Certain handicap champion Saint Liam will earn his trainer Rick Dutrow an Eclipse Award, especially if Sprint winner Silver Train is added to the mix. The jockey Eclipse race remains wide open, although Garrett Gomez and Edgar Prado, especially Gomez, the human story of this Breeders’ Cup, opened a lead on their colleagues. As usual, and regrettably, that title will go to the leading money earner at season’s end.

The glamour might be missing in the months to come, but there is plenty of important racing left. In New York Thanksgiving weekend, for instance, Afleet Alex will try to defeat older horses in the NYRA Mile, which would give him his third Grade 1 of the year. Horse of the Year titles live in the eye of the voters. There is always much sentiment for the glamorous three-year-old division. And will anyone ever forget what happened at the head of the stretch at Pimlico?

Since inception, and as we have stated many times, Breeders’ Cup is the one racing event that never fails to fire. In that context, what happened this year at Belmont Park was very much routine.