ELMONT, N.Y.- Long or short?
For almost half a century, the distance of the Coaching Club American Oaks has shifted from 1 1/2 miles to a 1 1/4 miles and back as officials of the New York Racing Association search for the route which will please the majority.
Good luck. There is no sign of consensus among those who consider 12 furlongs too far and those who prefer the traditional distance of a championship Oaks race.
INGLEWOOD, Calif. - Look for Irguns Angel to pop up again during the Del Mar meet, maybe even against Azeri. Jose Valdivia just hopes he will be along for the ride.
Valdivia suffered a hairline fracture of his left wrist last Friday when his filly, Flying Heart, collided with the inside rail of the turf course near the end of the second race and launched her rider into the cool evening air.
"Man, I felt like I was up there a long time," Valdivia said from his home a few days later. "I wondered when I was going to come down."
TUSCAN, Ariz. - When I was a kid in the hard coal fields of eastern Pennsylvania, there was a narrow little street - really not much more than an alley - that ran off the main drag of my hometown.
It had two attractions. One was a bookie joint on the second floor of a ramshackle building and, diagonally across the street, the Hippodrome theater.
BALTIMORE - As Maryland racing has declined during the last decade - with its facilities deteriorating, its ontrack business eroding, and its purses falling behind those in nearby states - people who love the sport have hoped for some dramatic change that might rescue it. On Monday, those hopes became a reality with the announcement that the Magna Entertainment Corpor-ation will purchase a majority interest in Laurel Park and Pimlico Race Course.
INGLEWOOD, Calif. - From Calder's razzle-dazzle Summit of Speed to Hollywood's historic Cup of Gold, the weekend embraced 3,000 air miles, 23 races, and half a tube of sunscreen. It all went by in rainbow haze of world-class horseflesh, high-flying jockeys, and Jamaican jerk chicken, so forgive me if I get things a little bit confused.
Was the Mike Smith who won Saturday's $400,000 Smile Handicap aboard Orientate the same Mike Smith who steered Came Home to victory in the $500,000 Swaps Stakes on Sunday? Talk about interstate commerce.
NEW YORK - When racing's leaders speculate about what the successful racetrack of the future might look like, they needn't talk purely in hypotheticals. They can do what I did last weekend and fly into Dallas-Fort Worth and see one up and running at Lone Star Park.
MIAMI - When Leandro Mora was asked a question about Sky Jack the other day, he preceded his answer with a grin that reflected the bright Florida sun.
"He's doing reeeeeeally good," Mora said, only he used a few more e's.
Mora was on the road for his boss, Doug O'Neill, tending to business with Affirm Cat for Saturday's $250,000 Carry Back, part of Calder's $1.4 million Summit of Speed.
WASHINGTON - When Magna Entertainment Corp. buys a major interest in the Maryland Thoroughbred racetracks - a deal that appears imminent - the Canadian company will add to its powerful position in American racing. It already operates important tracks from Gulfstream Park in Florida to Santa Anita in California, and soon it will run one of the nation's most famous races, the Preakness at Pimlico.