NEW YORK - There were 46,870 witnesses who will swear that the 139th Belmont Stakes was run on Long Island last Saturday, but pace handicappers would swear that the race was contested on either Keeneland's Polytrack or soggy turf at Longchamp.

TUCSON, Ariz. - It's hard to knock a guy who takes his bride to Belmont Park for their honeymoon.

It is almost impossible to knock a guy who lived a rough, tough early life, became enormously successful, never forgot a name or a face, befriended the common man, and died with thousands of friends and no enemies.

That was Arthur J. Rooney, "The Chief" to his friends and to the men who played pro football for his Pittsburgh Steelers.

INGLEWOOD, Calif. - There was more than one horse race run last Saturday. No, really, there was.

From Chippewa to Yavapai, from Canterbury Downs to the Eastern Oregon Livestock Show (celebrating its 100th anniversary, by the way), bets were taken, gates blasted open, and jocks went belly down in pursuit of whatever purse there was dangling from the wire.

NEW YORK - Last month, when Gov. Eliot Spitzer's office floated the idea of splitting up the New York tracks and having separate operators for Belmont and Saratoga, the notion was quickly and properly scorned by every single segment of the industry and bidder for the franchise.

INGLEWOOD, Calif. - It is becoming harder and harder to take the Hollywood Oaks seriously, but don't blame the 3-year-old fillies involved.

Nope, it's the two-legged, human-type deciders who were responsible for slashing a half-furlong off the traditional 1 1/8-mile distance five years ago, and then stuffing a Breeders' Cup plug between "Hollywood" and "Oaks" in order to get $50,000 worth of product placement money - just enough money, as it happens, to be able to advertise the race at $150,000, meeting the minimum requirement for a Grade 2 event.

INGLEWOOD, Calif. - The Belmont Stakes will be run Saturday, but there will be no Triple Crown winner this year. Tough luck. Neither will there be a man going to the moon, a pitcher winning 30 games, or a duck singing Puccini. We'll survive.

Racing fans, at least the ones with a sense of history, will survive this 29th consecutive year without a Triple Crown because they remember the last horse to win the Triple Crown, and they are comforted. When another Affirmed comes along, there will be another Triple Crown winner. Simple as that.

NEW YORK - The 139th Belmont Stakes will be run against a backdrop of worrisome developments - the absence of the Kentucky Derby winner, the likelihood of premature retirements for the division's leaders, and the uncertainty of the New York racing franchise past the end of this year. But at least for the seven hours and 40 minutes between first and last races at Belmont Park on Saturday, those clouds will recede for what promises to be a spectacular showcase of racing.

INGLEWOOD, Calif. - Despite the fact that the most important men in Ruffian's corner - trainer Frank Whiteley and jockey Jacinto Vasquez - filed suit seeking compensation for the use of their names, the movie "Ruffian," airing Saturday night on ABC, takes great pains to craft a melancholy valentine to the memory of the transcendent champion.

INGLEWOOD, Calif. - Going into the 1 1/16-mile Milady Handicap last Sunday, trainer Carla Gaines had no clue as to how Nashoba's Key would handle Hollywood Park's Cushion Track surface in the heat of competition, especially with such heavyweights as Balance and Hystericalady in the mix. She had trained well enough for Gaines over the artificial stuff, but that was just practice. To that point her breeding, by Silver Hawk out of a Caerleon mare, had led Gaines in the only obvious direction. Nashoba's Key had made three starts, all on grass, and won all three.

NEW YORK - There's still plenty to argue about with the way that the Racing Hall of Fame selects and elects its nominees, but there should be no argument that the four contemporary figures who will be inducted this year are worthy and welcome additions to the shrine in Saratoga Springs, N.Y.