When he was 17, it was a very good year, and not just because Richard Migliore was North America's leading apprentice. He also came close to winning the first running of the Japan Cup.

INGLEWOOD, Calif. - On the morning of Oct. 18, 2001, Eoin Harty and a gathering of Santa Anita horsemen watched with a mixture of horror and fascination as trainer Jay Robbins attempted to orchestrate a one-mile work for reigning Horse of the Year Tiznow, in preparation for his defense of his title in the Breeders' Cup Classic at Belmont Park one week hence.

It was not a pretty sight.

NEW YORK - In six years as the mayor of New York City, Michael Bloomberg has been remarkably silent on matters pertaining to horse racing and offtrack betting, issues which he clearly knows or cares little about. Unfortunately, he undid all that admirable restraint in a single statement Thursday, violating the old saw that it is better to keep one's mouth shut and appear ignorant than to open it and remove all doubt.

INGLEWOOD, Calif. - The Real Quiet Stakes is still just a baby and doesn't figure to get much older, given the uncertainty of Hollywood Park's survival in a cold, cruel real estate world. Even so, as a low-key indicator of prospective talent, the 1 1/16-mile event already has made an impact with such participants as Bob and John, Liquidity, and Unusual Suspect, and Sunday's third running promises good things as well.

Were it not for a certain steeplechasing superstar, Michael Moran at least would be known as both owner and trainer of Silent Roar, who beat Breeders' Cup Mile winner Kip Deville on the square at Monmouth in August. In addition, Moran could, if he wanted, claim bragging rights as co-breeder of Hard Spun, the multi-purpose 3-year-old who held his own against Curlin and Street Sense all season long.

Don't look now, but Greg Gilchrist and Harry Aleo have themselves another hot number. Her name is High Resolve, and she was pushed out of her San Francisco nest last weekend to win the Joe O'Farrell Juvenile Fillies Stakes at Calder with a wire-to-wire performance that left the opposition dizzy.

"It would have been easier and less expensive to run in the Mocassin at Hollywood Park the same weekend, but it probably would have been a tougher race, and for $50,000 less," Gilchrist said. "Sometimes in this business, the easiest thing to do is not always the best thing to do.

TUCSON, Ariz. - This is about a horse you never heard of, even though he has won 27 races, $2,122,376, and built 15 homes for the poor in Haiti. He has a street named for him in Haiti's capital, Port-au-Prince.

His name is Lis Mara and he is a pacer, harness racing's older pacer of the year last year in both the United States and Canada. He was retired at the end of October after finishing first or second 40 times in 63 starts, racing week in and week out against the best pacing horses in the world.

The big horse of the Steve Asmussen stable has been walking the shed row at Churchill Downs for about 45 minutes every morning, keeping things low key while his people decide whether or not Breeders' Cup Classic winner Curlin will be a 4-year-old racehorse or a 4-year-old stud horse in 2008. The only thing certain right now is that he will be Horse of the Year.

ARCADIA, Calif. - The Tin Man stood at the webbing of the first stall outside the stable office of the Richard Mandella barn at Santa Anita, nibbling on a hanging rack of rich green alfalfa. There was an upturned bucket sitting a yard from the mouth of the stall to make sure shed row traffic steered clear. All four legs and both knees were bandaged. He was wearing a halter thickly padded in sheepskin and chained to a heavy-duty eyelet screwed into the exterior of the stall door frame, just above the hay rack.

NEW YORK - Which of the three hosts of an American classic will be the first to offer slot machines as well as a Triple Crown race - Churchill Downs, the Maryland Jockey Club, or the New York Racing Association? After a trifecta of recent slots development in Kentucky, Maryland, and New York, the race is on.