INGLEWOOD, Calif. - Never mind Polytrack, Tapeta Footing, StaLok, or other cutting-edge artificial surfaces. Based on recent traumas sustained by marquee colts in classic events, Saturday's 138th version of the Belmont Stakes will be the first one ever run on eggshells.

INGLEWOOD, Calif. - Gary Stevens is not prone to flashbacks, but he had one in Technicolor last Saturday morning as he sat at home watching the TVG coverage of the Epsom Derby and the horses as they approached the starting gate.

NEW YORK - No one in his right mind would claim that the 138th Belmont Stakes on Saturday shapes up as a vintage renewal. Without either the Kentucky Derby or Preakness winners in the field, much less a Triple Crown bid on the line, it seems highly likely that attendance and television ratings will tumble from their giddy heights of recent years.

INGLEWOOD, Calif. - Man, how I hate to write that date, the fourth of June, and especially this year, since it lines up with a Sunday.

It was on the evening of Sunday, June 4, 2000, that Eddie Gregson paid a late visit to his South Pasadena office, pulled out a handgun, and shot himself dead. Understanding why he did it is no easier than figuring out why Barbaro broke down. That's racing. That's life.

INGLEWOOD, Calif. - It could have been a home run of epic proportions, clearing the bases and rattling the rooftops from coastal California to central Kentucky. Once so uncommercial that breedings were given away, the stallion Benchmark was one race away from national acclaim and a serious five-figure fee.

NEW YORK - The confusing and embarrassing results of this year's voting for the Racing Hall of Fame were the result of well-meaning but fatally flawed changes to an election procedure in need of change. The good news is that it can be fixed pretty easily so that recent wrongs can be righted as soon as next year.

Until two years ago, election was a simple matter of winning a plurality among the five nominees in each of four categories. Every year, a jockey, a trainer, a male and a female horse were inducted. The process was straightforward but unsound on two counts.

INGLEWOOD, Calif. - Neil Drysdale was more than pleasantly surprised when he heard the news this week that the Chilean star Cougar II had been elected to the racing Hall of Fame.

"He is certainly very deserving," Drysdale said Wednesday morning after training hours at Hollywood Park. "He was the first foreign-bred millionaire, and equally adept on turf or dirt, a very versatile horse. You don't see many like that anymore."

INGLEWOOD, Calif. - The most stunning news to come out of the 2006 Hall of Fame shutout was not that no one among Silver Charm, Alex Solis, Inside Information, John Veitch, Best Pal, Sky Beauty, Silverbulletday, Craig Perret, Robert Wheeler, Eddie Maple, Mel Stute, and Manila was deemed worthy of induction by at least 132 of the 175 voters who returned ballots.

Such a result was almost a statistical certainty.

TUCSON, Ariz. - Across the continent, there have been significant developments and new approaches in recent days that can have long-term effects on racing integrity.

INGLEWOOD, Calif. - Goodness knows how many miles Bill Shoemaker logged on those 40,350 mounts he's given credit for in all the record books. One thing is for sure - a healthy chunk of them were recorded at Hollywood Park, where Shoemaker won 18 riding titles and eight Hollywood Gold Cups, and where his impact will be honored once again on Memorial Day in the $300,000 Shoemaker Mile.