ARCADIA, Calif. - Everybody loves a parade, and everybody has their favorite, whether big balloons on Thanksgiving, tanks in Red Square on May Day, or the masked and beaded excess of the Endymion Krewe in the midst of Mardi Gras.

You can have them all. The best parade these eyes ever saw took place in Southern California, on a Saturday afternoon in January of 1973, and it was nowhere near the streets of Pasadena. There were no floats, no bands, and nary a Shriner in sight. There were just five horses and thousands of devoted fans, cheering their every move.

ARCADIA, Calif. - On any other day, the star of the party at the California Equine Retirement Foundation ranch would have been the shaggy brown beast in the roomy pipe pen who answered to the name of Caterman.

HALLENDALE BEACH, Fla. - What a game little colt.

After making his own pace from the outset without much pressure, Booklet suddenly came under fire through the final furlong of Saturday's $200,000 Fountain of Youth Stakes for 3-year-olds. Harlan's Holiday, the 2-1 favorite, had rated nicely for Tony D'Amico. Now he was getting ready to deliver the coup de grace, but he never had a chance to pull the trigger.

ARCADIA, Calif. - Most of the people honored with an Eclipse Award of Merit either own racetracks, breed horses, or lord over large organizations that wield profound influence upon the racing game. Then there is Pete Pedersen.

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - The news from Toronto detailing the increase to $750,000 of the purse for Woodbine's E.P. Taylor Stakes for fillies and mares on the turf has considerable significance.

Since its inception in 1981, the

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - I don't yet know who won Saturday's Fountain of Youth Stakes at Gulfstream, and I don't care if he goes on to win the Triple Crown. The fact that the winner will be credited with a Grade 1 victory is ridiculous.

This is not meant as a criticism of the Fountain of Youth, a nice race with a distinguished list of winners, but of the graded stakes system, which is increasingly bereft of common sense and integrity.

HALLANDALE, Fla. - America's racing fans may now start handicapping the Kentucky Derby in earnest. Future wagering on the Derby began Thursday at tracks across the country, and the year's first Grade 1 prep race, the Fountain of Youth Stakes, will be run Saturday at Gulfstream Park.

ARCADIA, Calif. - The Internet can be a dark, disturbing world, full of shocking sights and troubling tales. Just ask David Lanzman, owner of Squirtle Squirt, who is up against the brilliant filly Xtra Heat in the race for Eclipse Award champion sprinter of 2001.

"I went on the computer and saw that she's crushing us in the fan vote," said Lanzman this week as he prepared for his trip to the Eclipse Awards dinner on Monday night in Miami.

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - The known versus the unknown. That appears to be the story line in Saturday's $200,000 Fountain of Youth Stakes for 3-year-olds, a traditional stepping-stone to next month's Florida Derby.

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - When Florida racing switched from bookmakers to the parimutuel system in 1932, Mort Mahony helped usher in the new era as director of mutuels at Hialeah. Mahony had extensive experience, having helped Maryland make the transition at Pimlico in 1909. Mort was succeeded at the Miami tracks in the 1950's by his son, Riggs, who helped introduce many innovations in wagering.

Riggs Mahony's son, Pat, came here in 1967, later succeeding his father as director of mutuels.