ARCADIA, Calif. - It can be argued that Bill Shoemaker's greatest ride came on the summer day in 1991 when, in the first months of his quadriplegic existence following his one-car wreck, he successfully negotiated the hallway of a Colorado rehabilitation hospital using the sip-and-puff mechanism of his customized wheelchair. Later, he became so adept at its operation that he could run right over the tip of your shoe and make you think it was an accident.

WASHINGTON - When Bud Delp was training the great Spectacular Bid, he needed a jockey to handle the colt in the latter part of his career. He could have obtained the services of any rider in the world, but his choice was a foregone conclusion. "When you think of jockeys," Delp said, "you think of Shoemaker."

ARCADIA, Calif. - Paddy Gallagher leaned on the wood railing at the mouth of his stable shed row and gazed up at a huge pepper tree swaying gently in the soft autumn breeze. In the distance, Trevor Denman's voice could be heard calling a race near the end of the Santa Anita program. It was almost four o'clock. Gallagher's horses were hungry, and they were letting him know.

WASHINGTON - Horseplayers have always sought simple systems for winning money at the track, but simple systems usually don't work because the game is too complex. There is, however, one method that has succeeded for years: Bet on offspring of the stallion Not for Love. In particular, bet them when they make the first start of their careers. Bet them as 2-year-olds. Bet them when they run on wet tracks.

Earlier this year, the Breeders' Cup announced that the purse of the Juvenile was being raised from $1 million to $1.5 million to help ensure the participation of the nation's top 2-year-olds in what is supposed to be the division's championship race. As it turns out, it might have been more appropriate to drop the purse by $500,000 or scrap the race altogether.

ARCADIA, Calif. - Right on schedule, the breed has begun to fall apart. What other conclusion can be drawn?

Everything was going fine last March. There were a few hiccups among Triple Crown 3-year-olds in May and June. The summer passed in a golden haze of glorious competition, with all players at their best, and the glow carried into the early autumn, as freshened stars flexed in preparation for the grand finale - the Breeders' Cup World Thoroughbred Championships - scheduled for the end of October.

ELMONT, N.Y. - The Distaff, first of the Breeders Cup races to be presented at Santa Anita on Oct. 25, may also be the most attractive contest on the program, as it has been so frequently in the past.

Azeri, last year's Distaff winner and the champion of her division, is training forwardly again after beating back a respiratory infection which led to her defeat in the recent Lady's Secret Handicap at Oak Tree, her first loss following 11 consecutive victories.

ARCADIA, Calif. - There is a Wednesday night show on NBC called "Ed" that is billed as a romantic comedy stocked with "odd but appealing" characters. This would be "odd but appealing" as in "annoying but unarmed."

According to reports, "Ed" has been running for three years. Three years is about the statute of limitations on any TV show buried as deep in the Nielsens as "Ed" is (61st last week out of 114 rated programs). But three years gave "Ed" time enough to finally get around to a story line this week about horse racing.

ARCADIA, Calif. - Sometimes, the job finds the man, even if it takes 40 years or so.

Jason Levin grew up in New York listening to Bob Murphy broadcast those beloved Mets. For the 8-year-old Levin, life could have ended with the 1969 World Series and he would have harbored no serious regrets.

When Levin's parents, both actors, moved to Los Angeles in 1971, young Jason tagged along. Soon, Vin Scully was the voice in Levin's ear, and the Dodgers were his adopted team.

WASHINGTON - I knew Glen Gallivan for the last six years of his short life, which ended last week, and during that time I never heard him complain about anything - except, perhaps, a tough loss at the racetrack. He refused to express a word of regret or self-pity about the affliction that fate had dealt him.