ARCADIA, Calif. - Ignore the party poopers. Let the wet blankets grumble. Yes, even pity the fools for their lack of a fun-loving spirit, because there is absolutely nothing wrong with throwing a big black-tie and barn boots celebration, even during a time of war.

So roll out that red rug Monday night, and put aside for a few brief hours the ongoing strife that is threatening to rip Thoroughbred racing to shreds. It is time once again for the Eclipse Awards dinner, and a chance to escape the real world raging outside the gilded doors of the Beverly Wilshire Hotel ballroom.

ARCADIA, Calif. - Now that Santa Anita has dried out from its 20-inch January deluge, the game is afoot once again, accompanied by all the excitement that top-class turf racing provides.

LAUREL, Md. - When Laurel Park reopens Saturday, it will unveil not only a new racing surface but a new wagering device. The Horse Wizard looks like a slot machine, sounds like a slot machine, and is aimed at customers who prefer the simplicity of slot-machine gambling to the complexity of Thoroughbred handicapping. It is the brainchild of Frank Stronach, chairman of Magna Entertainment, Laurel's parent company, and it embodies Stronach's virtues as a racing executive as well as his flaws.

ARCADIA, Calif. - Those concerned with advances in modern medicine will be reassured to know that Sandi Gann is continuing her exploration of the human body and its ability to recover from trauma.

Gann, 42, is a former leading jockey at Turf Paradise and one of only three women to win a stakes race at Hollywood Park. In a Thoroughbred career that began in 1987, she has won 1,061 races, primarily on the Arizona and Washington circuits. During the current Turf Paradise meet, Gann was tied for seventh in the standings as action began last Friday.

ARCADIA, Calif. - The word "pioneer" is tossed around a lot. Most of the time it lands on a person hardly worthy of the term. But in the case of John Valpredo, who witnessed close to a century of California history while making his mark in horses and agriculture, hailing him as a pioneer in both worlds is right on the mark.

NEW YORK - With ugly sleet in the skies over Aqueduct and uglier race-fixing headlines on the front pages of the local tabloids, Friday in New York seemed a better day for escaping racing than attending it. Fortunately, a great escape was available because it was opening day for "Racing Stripes," the new movie about a zebra who wants to be a racehorse.

ARCADIA, Calif. - Though horse racing could be described as marginalized in today's mass media market, from time to time the sport coughs up a story too good to ignore.

Steve Cauthen, "The Kid," provided just such a tale a quarter-century ago, as did the more recent resurrection of Seabiscuit as an American icon. Smarty Jones was on the same fast track until . . . well, never, mind . . . and now comes Jimmy Winkfield.

ARCADIA, Calif. - The mean season is normally associated with Florida in summertime, when the hurricanes begin to brew and the barometer reading drops through the floorboards. It is best, if possible, to stay inside, lashed to a mast.

NEW YORK - Last Monday night's debut episodes of Game Show Network's "American Dream Derby" prompted a number of fascinating questions:

* Does every horse owner really live in a great big mansion?

* Was that fake-looking manure the contestants had to pick up with their hands the real thing or some composite whipped up by the props department?

* Does every "reality show" have to include some version of manure-handling, blood-drinking, or worm-eating?

TUCSON, Ariz. - Racing commissioners, like the general population, come in all sizes and shapes, physically and intellectually.

Some are deeply motivated and dedicated, some satisfied with the title and prestige, some strangers to the racetrack when appointed and ever after.

So it is refreshing and encouraging, even exhilarating, to watch the fast break from the gate on the part of the breed's newest member, Richard Shapiro of the California Horse Racing Board.