Box Seats

LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- Seven hours after Omar Jennings left his Catonsville home for his Kentucky Derby getaway, he was sitting before a big screen TV at Churchill Downs hollering for a horse named Dublin Assets. He was hollering for a first-place finish. For a quick $80 payoff. At his side were New York Leni, Mister B, Big Jeff and Dave the Rave, who each ponied up $700 for this weekend at America's premier racing event, the first jewel in the Triple Crown. Al the Hammerhead was there, too. But he needed to be on his feet, within an easy stride of the betting windows at Silks, a restaurant inside the track.

DALLAS - The Orioles made it official yesterday: A disgruntled fan base won't have to pay more next season not to watch Mike Mussina pitch. Directly linking his decision to Mussina's $88.5 million defection to the New York Yankees last week, Orioles majority owner Peter Angelos announced the club has rescinded its decision to raise prices on Camden Yards' premium seats. Instead, the Orioles stand as Major League Baseball's only franchise to forgo a price hike on any tickets the past three seasons.

A COUPLE OF guys in what passes for the visiting-team bullpen -- folding chairs tucked up against the left-field fence -- are furtively munching hamburgers smuggled down to them by a pack of kids. In return, the players quietly hand scuffed-up baseballs across the fence. The kids run away, gleefully clutching their booty.For moments like these, Tom, Ben and I leave Baltimore one night for Harry Grove Stadium where the Frederick Keys play Class A Ball in the Carolina League. Away from talk-radio land where disgusted Orioles fans speak with 20-20 hindsight of bad trades and better days.

Charles Curlett paid $2,000 Saturday night for a Cartier watch worth $5,600. "And for a good cause," said the attorney from Oakenshawe. But Curlett won't have the unisex watch all to himself. "We're going to share it," said his wife, Christina. Curlett was among more than 200 people who packed Gutierrez Studios in Woodberry for the third annual "Hats Off to Hampden Family Center," a gala fundraiser featuring silent and live auctions and live music. The Hampden Family Center provides everything from after-school enrichment and tutoring for area schoolchildren to lunches for senior citizens and assistance to families in applying for food stamps and other social services.

Horse racing has always had its seamier side - desperate bets, old-time bookies - but the Preakness infield has lowered the bar. While the well-heeled mingled with martinis in box seats yesterday or in the new Turfside Terrace (where the seats went for $250 a person), thousands of raucous revelers set up mini-pubs in the center of the Pimlico Race Course track and preferred to get down and dirty. This year's Mardi Gras-like fete was one of the dirtiest. Blame it on the rain: Early morning storms turned the typically grassy field into sludge soup.

What: Howard Community College Grand Prix When: Saturday, Sept. 22, from 9:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Where: Marama Farm, 5610 Chamblis Drive, Clarksville Tickets: $10 for the lawn (children 10 and under free); adult bleacher seats $15, children bleachers $8; tent seats $200; box seats $250. Raffle tickets for a car are $100 each or three for $250. More information: Call 443 518-1970 or go to http://www.hccgrandprix.com..

Dear Doctor Stadium:My question is a simple one. At Memorial Stadium I had upper box seats. There was no obstruction from the railing in front. My new seats at Oriole Park are four rows lower. Will there be an obstruction because of the lower seats?# Please let me know.J.E. HallBaltimoreDear J.E. Hall:Here's what I found out: Your seats apparently will have a clear view of the entire field, although I'd prefer you did not sue me if it turns out otherwise.Here's something else I discovered, which I bet a lot of people don't know.

On Feb. 2, 1961, at 1 p.m., a train carrying fans to Bowie Race Course derailed near the race track, killing six and injuring more than 200. Undaunted, a number of passengers scrambled over the dead and wounded, smashed windows and hurried on foot to Bowie, in 15-degree cold, to place their bets before the first race. One man walked to the track with a broken collarbone. Another limped out of the woods nearby carrying a bag of money and one of his shoes. "I saw people with blood all over them, standing there (at the mutual windows)

Individual game tickets for the Bowie Baysox will go on sale tomorrow, beginning at 10 a.m. at the Prince George's Stadium ticket office.Ticket office hours will be Monday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., until the start of the season.On game days, the ticket office will open at 10 a.m. and remain in operation until the middle of the fifth inning. Telephone ticket orders must be made by noon for an evening game and by the end of the previous day for a 2:05 start.Fans may purchase their tickets in person at the stadium ticket windows or may phone in credit card orders (box seats only)

Gates open: 8:30 a.m.Post time: 11 a.m.Admission:General admission: $12Clubhouse: $15Infield: $25Seating capacity:New Grandstand: 6,415Old Grandstand: 5,926Clubhouse: 1,285Sports Palace: 160Standing room: 22,000 estimateInfield capacity: 60,000Terrace box seats: 3,936Total: 99,722Parking:General (Preakness Way and Rogers Ave.): $20 per car, $40 per busClubhouse preferred (Maple and Belvedere Avenue): $30 per car, $135 per busValet: Extra $10 in Clubhouse lotHayward Avenue Preferred: $80 per car, $250 per busParking capacity:General spaces: 2,100Clubhouse preferred spaces: 1,500Valet spaces: 300Hayward preferred spaces: 320Betting windows: 750 (including temporary windows on Preakness Day)