Christof,
Thanks, looks like a limitation of the SQL parser, it seems like it should be able to optimize the expression in either order especially for an =, I could see it having a minor problem converting <= into >= if it swapped the expression and field. But at least now I know to keep the field to the left, even if it makes the code a little less clear.
>not optimizable is:
>
>SELECT COUNT(*) FROM Table WHERE "..." = Field