ARCADIA, Calif. - The 1940 judges' stand has been dismantled, the crowd-enhancing dummies all deflated, and the barn area has emerged from the past. Sigh. The "Seabiscuit" movie folk have departed and taken with them their magic, which means Santa Anita is out of the illusion business and back to the reality of racing in the cold, cruel modern world.

On Thursday, the longest meeting on the Southern California racing calendar will commence with a nine-race program, three stakes, and enough good will to last at least until the weekend. Or the next big rain.

MIAMI - One of the world's greatest athletes will be the honoree at Calder on Saturday. The special program will celebrate the remarkable career of Laffit Pincay Jr. Pincay, with over 9,400 career winners to his credit, will turn 56 a week from Sunday. At an age when most athletes in most sports have long since retired, Pincay is competing against other top athletes, many of them not yet born in 1965 when Pincay came here from his native Panama, largely at the behest of the late Florida breeder Fred W. Hooper.

INGLEWOOD, Calif. - The showdown between Kafwain and Toccet in Saturday's Hollywood Futurity is attractive on paper, and certainly has the potential to entertain.

But for all its perceived importance, its introductory fanfare back in 1981, and its subsequent late-season hype, the Futurity never seems to have the kind of national impact envisioned by its creators.

Except for once.

INGLEWOOD, Calif. - As phone calls go, the one trainer Rafael Becerra got last May during the Barretts sale of 2-year-olds in Pomona ranks right up there. The man on the other end of the line represented Stan Fulton, owner of Sunland Park and a Thoroughbred patron of growing influence, and Mr. Becerra was asked if he could take a meeting. Mr. Becerra could not shave and shower fast enough.

WASHINGTON - In the wake of the Breeders' Cup pick six scandal, the racing industry hired Giuliani Partners to oversee the security of its betting systems and help repair its tarnished image. This move produced cynical reactions from many people who think the National Thoroughbred Racing Association is trying to whitewash its reputation by associating itself with former New York mayor Rudolph Giuliani.

In the tidal wave of talk that engulfed Tucson and the University of Arizona's Symposium on Racing last week, two words were missing from the torrent.

Sports betting.

It is quite possible, however, that they will be added to the lexicon of gambling on the East Coast next year.

How could that happen, when sports betting is illegal almost everywhere?

INGLEWOOD, Calif. - Please don't get the wrong idea. On any given weekend, a Thoroughbred racetrack is still the place to be. And certainly last Saturday was no exception at Hollywood Park, where Ron McAnally, Pat Valenzuela, Laffit Pincay, and the entire Dollase clan put on an excessive display of winning behavior.

Valenzuela won three, including the Starlet Stakes aboard Elloluv for trainer Craig Dollase, who later won a maiden race with the filly Thunder's Echo, while in between his father, Wally D., won a $40,000 claimer on the turf with Dynamistic.

ARCADIA, Calif. - Bob Baffert arrived at Santa Anita on Friday morning just in time to clock a team working in company and supervise the next set. Never mind that it was 9:15.

"Good afternoon," said Ron McAnally, gently tapping his wristwatch as Baffert walked by. Bob didn't let it go.

TUCSON, Ariz. - Tim Smith, the Commissioner of the National Thoroughbred Racing Association, began the concluding session of the Symposium on Racing here Friday morning by saying that the NTRA's annual presentation would include a couple of surprises. Finally, after a week in which the Fix Six scandal dominated every informal conversation but without breaking any new ground in formal sessions, it seemed that some major news about racing's biggest story might be forthcoming.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. - The remarkable Xtra Heat is back in New York for the first time since winning Belmont Park's Vagrancy Handicap on June 9 under 127 pounds. A winner of $2,223,305 and 24 races, Xtra Heat, a 4-year-old daughter of Dixieland Heat, once again carries 127 pounds and will concede as many as 15 pounds to her opponents in the $`75,000 Garland of Roses Handicap at six furlongs on Saturday.