SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - Though Better Talk Now finished a solid second in last weekend's Grade 1 Sword Dancer Invitational, trainer Graham Motion couldn't help think that Father Time has finally caught up to the 10-year-old gelding.

"I questioned myself a little as to whether that it was age that he didn't get there," said Motion, whose horse fell two lengths shy of 33-1 shot Telling. "I just question whether he would have got there three years ago. It's in the back of my mind. It's got me thinking."

DEL MAR, Calif.- Richard Shapiro, the former chairman of the California Horse Racing Board, pleaded no contest earlier this week to misdemeanor charges of vandalizing horse owner Jerry Jamgotchian's car with a key at Hollywood Park in April.

At a hearing on Tuesday, Shapiro, 56, was sentenced to three years of informal probation and must pay $6,800 in damages to Jamgotchian, a horse owner and an outspoken critic of Shapiro and the racing board in recent years.

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - Much to the relief of eight other trainers, Rachel Alexandra, as expected, was not entered in Saturday's Grade 1, $600,000 Alabama Stakes at Saratoga.

That leaves for an interesting albeit star-lacking Alabama for 3-year-old fillies at 1 1/4 miles. Funny Moon and Don't Forget Gil, the one-two finishers in the Grade 1 Coaching Club American Oaks at Belmont Park last month, figure to take the bulk of the money, but two Canadian invaders - Careless Jewel and Milwaukee Appeal - could make the race interesting.

With Philadelphia Park taking its annual summer break, two of its leading riders, Rod Madrigal Jr. and Frankie Pennington, are competing at Thistledown.

Madrigal rode here for many years before leaving for Philadelphia. His father, Rod Madrigal Sr., rode here for almost 20 years before becoming a trainer. He is currently in pursuit of his 1,000 training victory and had 993 winners through Tuesday's card. The father-son combination teamed up for a winner Monday.

DEL MAR, Calif. - Last summer at Del Mar, trainer Howard Zucker won four turf sprints with the fillies Queen of the Catsle and Synnin and Grinnin. This season, he's taking aim at the biggest race of the meet for 3-year-old fillies, Saturday's Grade 1, $350,000 Del Mar Oaks, in which he will send out Well Monied, the likely favorite in the 1 1/8-mile grass race. The long and short of it is this: When it comes to stakes races on the grass at Del Mar, Zucker has it covered.

Hoosier Park raised purses 12 percent beginning Aug. 12, according to Jeff Smith, the track's general manager of racing.

"We took a very conservative approach in establishing the purse structure this spring," Smith said. "We have just completed one-fourth of our meet. As a result, we can better identify the horse population that is currently at our facility and reward our horseman with a higher purse structure."

Average daily purses will now be more than $200,000 a day for the remainder of the meet.

Both the jockey and trainer races are extremely tight.

MIAMI - Like a good many of his fellow horsemen stabled locally during the current session, trainer Phil Gleaves has spent more than his share of time travelling in and out of town this summer. In Gleaves's case, his trips north are due to the exploits of Mambo Meister, who is stabled at Saratoga where he finished second behind Justenuffhumor earlier this month in the Grade 2 Fourstardave.

AUBURN, Wash. - Considering the circumstances, Atta Boy Roy was surprisingly chipper Monday morning, less than 24 hours after his fifth-place finish in the Grade 3, $300,000 Longacres Mile at Emerald Downs.

The front-running 4-year-old colt used every last ounce of his speed while setting a suicidal pace in the Mile. Only in the final 100 yards did he yield, and stubbornly at that, to finish 1 3/4 lengths behind the winner, Assessment, and three others in a crowded scene at the wire.

OCEANPORT, N.J. - Although Coal Play is clearly the horse to beat in the Grade 3, $300,000 Philip H. Iselin Stakes on Saturday at Monmouth, trainer Bobby Dibona isn't backing down with Actin Good.

Earlier in the meet, Coal Play captured the Grade 3 Salvator Mile, a Breeders' Cup Win and You're In race that assures him a spot in the BC Dirt Mile. A 4-year-old trained by Nick Zito, Coal Play will be ridden again by Joe Bravo in the seven-horse Iselin.

ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. - Familiar filly-and-mare turf-allowance names abound in the featured ninth race on Friday at Arlington Park. Ciao has made graded-stakes forays the last three summers. Illinois-breds Apple Martini and Labar are regulars at this class level.

But it's two newer faces to the circuit that bear watching in a multiple-conditions allowance race also open to $62,500 claimers: Cure for Sale has started twice this Arlington summer, and won three weeks ago, and Never Retreat sees her first action in the heart of the country.