ARCADIA, Calif. - Sherwood Chillingworth was no more than a casual racing fan in the early 1970s when Santa Anita's president, Frank Ryan, told him there was a pretty good box coming available at the next meet if he'd like to grab it.

Bear in mind, in those days such an offer was the equivalent of being presented the key to the owner's suite at Yankee Stadium or ringside seats at La Scala. Santa Anita was not only the heartbeat of California horse racing, it was a social mecca for both visiting Easterners and the privileged of Pasadena.

NEW YORK - Nice guys don't always finish last. The sky is not necessarily the limit. And it turns out that gambling is not recession-proof.

ARCADIA, Calif. - Angel Cordero Jr. was driving to the Meadowlands on the afternoon of Oct. 3 to make a special appearance with fellow Hall of Famers Laffit Pincay and Pat Day. The three of them have been on tour recently to celebrate their historic participation in the tumultuous first running of the Breeders' Cup Classic, when Day and Wild Again edged Pincay, aboard Gate Dancer, and Cordero, who rode Slew o' Gold.

NEW YORK - A few first thoughts on the pre-entries for the 14 Breeders' Cup races next Friday and Saturday:

w If there had been an over/under bet on the number of horses pre-entered, I would have taken the over up to around 189 - and lost when it came in at 180. Going by first-preference entries, 6 of the 14 races did not attract full fields, including just eight horses in the Ladies' Classic, nine in the Dirt Mile, and 10 in the Sprint.

ARCADIA, Calif. - The observation was made the other day by a reasonably sober onlooker that you don't need to know a whole lot about horseflesh to recognize Curlin as something special.

He had a point.

TUCSON, Ariz. - Like most of us in racing, I have spent an inordinate amount of my life chasing dreams. A few have even been caught.

My hope has been to live long enough to see the leaders of the two major breeds - Thoroughbreds and Standardbreds - realize the benefits of cooperative and concerted action, on all fronts.

That lesson was learned first in 1963, when an equine flu epizootic devastated both the running and trotting/pacing populations in this country, creating a crisis great enough to bring the two sports together in the Reading Room at Saratoga Springs.

ARCADIA, Calif. - It is usually a cheap shot to take an honorable yet uninformed opinion and drag it over the coals. Best to leave such sentiments stew in their own thin juice until they quietly evaporate.

But when someone steps up to a bully pulpit like the Los Angeles Times and exhales in the direction of Thoroughbred racing with an alarming lack of rational perspective, mention needs to be made. Especially when that someone is the sports editor.

NEW YORK - In these final days before the Breeders' Cup pre-entry deadline Tuesday, we've been hearing a lot about how various owners have a duty or obligation about if and when to run their horses under the banner of "for the good of the game." This is why Curlin is supposed to run in the Classic despite his handlers' lack of enthusiasm for racing on a new synthetic track; why Zenyatta is supposed to take on the boys instead of being odds-on in the Ladies' Classic; why Commentator and Vineyard Haven and even Zarkava should be entered despite their connections' clear preference to call it a

ARCADIA, Calif. - On Sept. 28 at Belmont Park, John Velazquez recorded win No. 4,000 of his exemplary career by riding the 9-year-old Rogue Agent to a six-length victory over a muddy racetrack. His reward? Five days later Velazquez was in a Lexington hospital after a crash at Keeneland that afternoon.

On Oct. 9, at Louisiana Downs, Patrick Valenzuela reached the 4,000-win mark aboard the 5-year-old mare Burst of Light in the second race of the day. His reward? He gets to stay in Louisiana.

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Magical Fantasy, with Alex Solis up, wins the Grade 1, $350,000 Del Mar Oaks in her last start. Magical Fantasy will try to make it two Grade 1 wins in a row in Saturday's Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup at Keeneland.P