There were two performances at Belmont Park on June 6 that were so brilliant that they gave you the chills. One, of course, was by that 3-year-old who did that thing that hadn’t been done in 37 years. The other, understandably obscured by American Pharoah’s historic achievement, was Honor Code’s victory in the Metropolitan Mile.

Among the best of the summertime aromas are jasmine, smoky barbecue, and freshly baked Hall of Famers.

Last month, Cooperstown welcomed Craig Biggio, John Smoltz, Randy Johnson, and Pedro Martinez. On Saturday in Canton, Ohio, the NFL will induct Junior Seau, Ron Wolf, Charles Haley, Mick Tinglehoff, Will Shields, Bill Polian, Jerome Bettis, and Tim Brown.

Americans, bless our tiny attention spans, are always ready to go nuts about something. A bogus plague. A buffoon running for office. A Great White Coward who kills living plush toys for sport.

It is refreshing, therefore, when The Real Deal comes along, when the object of our collective insanity has meat on the bone – especially when the feast is served by a racehorse.

If Beholder had been a fighter, she would have been Jake LaMotta, sometimes down but never out. She’s made more comebacks than Sinatra, had more second acts than Nixon. Just when you think you’ve seen the last of her, there she is again in the winner’s circle, mischievous and regal by turns, a fire-breathing Bambi on a mission.

Beholder will not go away.

Saratoga’s opening weekend this year might be best remembered for the highly unusual disqualification of horses who finished first in graded stakes on consecutive afternoons: the takedowns of Magna Light in the Grade 3 Sanford last Saturday and of I’m a Chatterbox in the Grade 1 Coaching Club American Oaks on Sunday.

Let’s see who’s been paying attention.

Rafael Bejarano and another rider were at the top of the Del Mar jockey standings at the end of the second week of racing. The Bejarano part is no surprise. He has won the Del Mar championship the last three years and before that in 2008. As for the other guy …

When Point Given won the first of Bob Baffert’s seven Haskells in 2001, the trainer knew the big horse was not at his best. Point Given had won the Preakness by 2 1/4 and the Belmont Stakes by 12 1/4, so the trainer took it easy that June and July.

“He was not ready to run in the Haskell,’’ Baffert said. “I gave him a couple little works.’’

Baffert is taking no chances with his Triple Crown winner. He has worked American Pharoah hard and often. AP will be ready.

Well, it was fun while it lasted.

For a whole week Del Mar was the center of the North American racing world. A crowd of 40,000 on opening day. A tropical storm of biblical proportions over the weekend. Inspiring performances on turf from Prize Exhibit and Gabriel Charles. And two – count ‘em, two – works from American Pharoah, including a glorious piece of business Wednesday that still had his disciples buzzing a day later.

At the most recent public meeting of the New York Racing Association Reorganization Board, the largely state-appointed trustees did not ask a single question about the cancelation of the traditional Saratoga open house, the presence of a new temporary chairman at the head of the table, or any long-term plans for the future of racing in New York. The only question that seemed to animate the group was the one on many lips as Saratoga opened this Friday: Will American Pharoah race at the Spa?

It wasn’t his fault.

You can’t blame Masochistic for testing positive for an inordinately high level of a common equine tranquilizer after the first race of his life, any more than you can blame him for finishing fifth of eight runners that day at odds of 8-1.

You can’t hold the horse accountable for running his eyeballs out in his very next race, which happened to take place at Churchill Downs on Derby Day, no less, nor for the questions his reversal of form raise with some Kentucky officials.