ARCADIA, Calif. - Sometimes it takes a while to unpack from an eventful trip. Days later, the corners of a suitcase (this one recently hauled through Ireland) can still hide scraps of memories and unlikely souvenirs.

An entry pass from The Curragh, Ireland's most famous racecourse, where a giant clock tower commands one end of the grandstand, greeting all participants and fans with the ominous reminder, "Time Reveals All."

Earlier this year, a proposal to raise the takeout in California to fund a useless series of statebred races justifiably died amid outrage and ridicule. Now the raise-the-takeout crowd is back again with a proposal for an increase because owners and trainers are facing higher workmen's compensation rates from insurance carriers.

FETHARD, Ireland - The walls of McCarthy's Bar in this horse crazy town are decorated in keeping with the spirit of the land.

"This place is so horsey, on a crowded night you could get kicked," proclaimed Annette Murphy, whose ancestors established McCarthy's five generations ago.

Fair warning, but play it right, and you'll feel no pain no matter how hard the blow. Looming over the bar, behind the taps pulling draught of Smithwicks, Harp, and Carlsburg, among other brews, is a sign insisting "Have a Guinness to-night."

LEXINGTON, Ky. - In the last 20 runnings of Keeneland's Blue Grass Stakes, the leader has led all the way 10 times.

Speed has always been a desirable quality over this track, and the chances of the quick horse are further enhanced by the configuration of the course, with its sweeping turns and relatively short stretch. But the good horse overcomes problems to carry the day.

LEXINGTON, Ky. - As they struggle to deal with injuries, illnesses and setbacks of one sort or another, the emphasis in the 128th Kentucky Derby on May 4 is squarely on training.

TUCSON, Ariz. - Racing commissioners in America are split into two camps, and one of them, the Association of Racing Commissioners International, meets this weekend in New York for an annual conference.

The ARCI represents many, but not all, of the more populous and affluent racing jurisdictions - New Jersey, Ohio, Illinois, Massachusetts, Michigan, Ontario, half of Pennsylvania, and California. For the record, New York does not belong to either the ARCI or its rival, the North American Pari-Mutuel Regulators Association.

WASHINGTON - After Came Home won the Santa Anita Derby, his jockey, Chris McCarron, delivered this assessment of the colt: "He's got everything you need to win the Kentucky Derby. He has talent, class, and determination."

LEXINGTON, Ky. - John Toffan discovered gold in Canada to pave his way into Thoroughbred racing. He and partner Trudy McCaffery made another discovery when they tried to sell one of the colts they bred and own. They couldn't do it.

In November of 1999, they had a weanling in the Keeneland sale. He failed to make his reserve, was bought back for $650,000, and came home. Buyers thought enough of his dam, Nice Assay, to buy her at the same sale for $1.7 million but no one wanted the Gone West colt.

WASHINGTON - As the leading candidates for the Kentucky Derby run their final prep races this weekend or next, the most accomplished colt of them all of is preparing for the Derby in a manner doomed to failure.

ARCADIA, Calif. - "Our most immediate problem, and it is a huge one, has to do with workmen's compensation insurance," Jack Liebau, president and general manager of Santa Anita Park, was saying. "The entire industry has come together to deal with this matter, which must be resolved by July 1. On that date, insurance coverage for two-thirds of the trainers in California comes due, and it is expected that the cost of renewal will increase 30 to 50 percent."