TUCSON, Ariz. - Almost 30 years ago a group of racing leaders, many of them lawyers and some bitter adversaries, sat around a large table in Washington, D.C. - more than once - and hammered out what became the Interstate Horseracing Act of 1978.

Now that Todd Pletcher has safely broken Todd Pletcher's record for stable earnings in a single season, some perspective might come in handy.

ARCADIA, Calif. – Sometimes the news business tends to let a story dangle. The drama is duly recorded, but then the world moves on, leaving loose ends flapping in the wind.

Two horses from stories this summer deserve a second visit. One of them was last seen in the stages of early recovery from a near catastrophic breakdown, the other was rescued from a fate that no horse deserves. Let’s see how they are doing now.

NEW YORK - The stated goal of the "Security and Accountability For Every (SAFE) Port Act of 2006" passed by Congress earlier this month is to "improve maritime and cargo security." Most of its 244 pages deal with seagoing minutiae such as "Notice for arrival of Foreign vessels on the Outer Continental Shelf" (Section 109), "Container security standards and procedures" (Section 210), and "Trade and Customs revenue functions" (Section 401).

NEW YORK - After just a few days of racing over the new Polytrack surface at Keeneland, it is clear that we are living through a transformative time in American racing that will only accelerate when artificial surfaces spread to California and beyond in the months ahead.

ARCADIA, Calif. - The main character in the Kurt Vonnegut novel "Bluebeard" is part of the early movement of American abstract expressionists whose paintings, laden with drips and smears, are badly misunderstood by his long-suffering wife, among others.

"You guys all paint the way you do because you couldn't paint something real if you had to," she said accusingly, hoping it would cut him to the core.

ARCADIA, Calif. - Under normal circumstances, if a trainer is sitting on the fastest, most consistent older sprinter in North America around this time of year, he has already made shipping plans for the Breeders' Cup, nailed down hotel and dinner reservations, and even picked out the coat and tie he would like to be wearing on national television that day.

ARCADIA, Calif. - Once the votes were in and all the dust had settled - artificial and otherwise - the most entertaining result of the past two weekends' worth of Breeders' Cup preparatory scrimmage was the slapstick victory of Stormello in last Sunday's Norfolk Stakes at Santa Anita.

Sure, the performances of Bernardini in the Jockey Club Gold Cup and Lava Man in the Goodwood Handicap were impressive. Nor were they the least bit unusual.

Carla Gaines is a conservative soul. She blames it on her Alabama upbringing, and it carries over to her handling of impetuous Thoroughbreds. In a hurry she is definitely not.

That is why it was such a surprise when word came down about the 58.60 five-eighths work posted by Spot the Diplomat last Monday at Santa Anita in his final significant prep for the Norfolk Stakes on Sunday. Gaines maintains it was definitely not what she had in mind.

NEW YORK - When a well-meant first-time starter named T Harry thundered down the stretch to win the narrowest of photo-finishes in the fourth race Friday at Belmont Park, it should have been a thrilling start to a parimutuel rarity: a three-day pick six carryover, the first in New York since last winter, with $456,860 in the kitty and another $1 million likely to pour in.

Instead, it was just another reason for horseplayers to tear out their hair and consider a new hobby.