Call it a celebration. Call it a farewell. Call it a chance just to say thanks once more when on Wednesday two of Thoroughbred racing’s noble warriors, both reluctantly retired, will be honored for their service as the holiday week kicks off at Emerald Downs, the tidy little track up there in Seattle doing business in the shadow of Mount Rainier.

It is a good day in American racing when the game’s two best milers, Wise Dan and Obviously, both leave the shelter of the shed row to strut their stuff in public. It’s just too bad they’ll be doing it 1,800 miles apart.

Wise Dan, the reigning Horse of the Year, is acting like he wants to keep the job. After wins in the Maker’s 46 Mile and the Woodford Reserve – pour me a double! – he’ll go postward Saturday night at Churchill Downs in the $150,000 Firecracker Handicap.

Mike Puype was at a loss for an explanation. After his exhilarating stretch of sending out six straight winners at Betfair Hollywood Park between June 20 and 22 he found himself suddenly mired in a two-race losing streak with no end in sight . . . or at least not until later this week, when he runs another one he expects to win.

In case someone failed to notice, a war of attrition has been quietly declared on a fundamental pillar of the Thoroughbred racing business in these United States.

Now that the New York Racing Association Reorganization Board has finally named a new chief executive after going 14 months without one, should fans expect any quick and dramatic changes to the sport or the operation of the Aqueduct, Belmont, and Saratoga?

Probably not.

It has been awhile since the rest of the country has taken particular notice regarding what happens in the Hollywood Oaks. For the most part, the race has been reduced to an early summer placeholder for what’s left of the West Coast filly division once the wild rites of spring fade away, which is pretty sad for an event that has been won by Miz Clementine, Straight Deal, Turkish Trousers, Fran’s Valentine, Hidden Light, and Lakeway.

LAS VEGAS – Nevada has it. New Jersey wants it. But what we all should be focusing on is the fact that millions of Americans want it as well. “It” is legalized sports betting.

For those who don’t know, Nevada has pretty much had a monopoly on sports betting in this country since 1992, when the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act passed and shut the door on states that hadn’t previously offered sports betting. Montana, Oregon, and Delaware were grandfathered in, but New Jersey let the deadline pass.

The return of Kinsale King has had Carl O’Callaghan’s smart phone ringing off the hook. This should not be a surprise. O’Callaghan is a push-button interview. Reporters have been known to leave the room with a tape recorder running and let Carl take it from there. Ask him nice, and he’ll even sing a tune.

There is really no modern precedent for what Animal Kingdom would accomplish were he to win the Queen Anne Stakes on Tuesday at Royal Ascot. You’d need to go back to Philadelphia’s Bill Tilden breaking through to win Wimbledon in 1920, or to the summer of 1953 when Ben Hogan sailed across the pond to win his one and only try at the British Open.

Come Tuesday, it will have been 77 years to the day that the 1935 American Triple Crown winner Omaha lost the 1936 Ascot Gold Cup by a nose, at the end of 2 1/2 miles, so it’s about time the Yanks gave it another serious try.

The nice thing about a year when a different horse wins each leg of the Triple Crown is that anything can happen now, instead of having the 3-year-old championship pretty much settled before summer even begins.

Orb, Oxbow, and Palace Malice made this the 17th time in the last 40 years that the Derby, Preakness, and Belmont produced different winners. In those 16 previous instances, the 3-year-old title went one of four ways with nearly identical frequency.