Lassie

For the second straight year, Maryland jockey Jeremy Rose and Delaware-based trainer Tim Ritchey combined to capture the Maryland Million Classic at Pimlico with a late-running Pennsylvania-bred. Last year, it was Sumerset. Yesterday, it was Docent who earned the winner's share of the $200,000 purse in the premier race on one of Maryland's premier days of racing. Created in 1986 as a showcase for Maryland stallions, the Maryland Million and its 10 races worth $1 million attracted 15,252 patrons to Pimlico and another 3,879 to Laurel Park.

THE LASSIES (see below) of Eastern High School's Class of 1952 will assemble at a downtown hotel Saturday for their 50th reunion. Just over 100 members of a graduating class of 350 are expected. Reunion organizers figure 50 classmates have died. An optimist would point out that six of seven young women who commenced at the old Poly auditorium have survived a half-century. Not bad. Think of the cumulative millions of heartbeats. "We're just starting to realize that every day is a gift," said Peg Massey, who invited me to her Baltimore home for the final meeting of the reunion committee.

There has never been a TV series where the animal hero was a bat. Why not? Why couldn't Lassie have been a bat? There could have been an episode wherein Lassie and her young master, Timmy, are frolicking around the farm, with Lassie playfully catching insects for Timmy via sonar, when suddenly ... UH-oh! Timmy is caught in the quicksand! So Lassie flits as fast as she can back to the farmhouse, where she squeaks and hurls her tiny self against the screen door until Timmy's family, realizing that something is wrong, comes running outside and kills Lassie with a rake.

A merciful break in the heat made the weather glorious Sunday for this year's Artscape Festival. Wandering among the crowds, I noticed that many people were out with their pets.No one bothered them, but the sight of so many dogs with their masters reminded me of an incident from a previous Artscape involving my own beloved pooches.We had taken our two collies, Simon and Bridget, to Artscape that year, decked out with ribbons in their hair and colorful leashes. Lots of people came up to pet them, and invariably they compared them to the Lassies of television, movie and book fame.

Today: The $60,000 Rollicking Stakes spotlights some of the better Maryland-bred youngsters who may wind up on the Triple Crown trail. Look out for Cayman Cat, sired by Mountain Cat, who has already had success on the New York circuit, and Jovial Brush, another Broad Brush offspring with talent.Tomorrow: Another 2-year-old race, the Heavenly Cause Stakes for Maryland-bred fillies, highlights the card. The Hamilton Smith-trained entry of Mysterious Jak and Jana looms strong, along with Maryland Million Lassie winner Perfect Challenge.

The birth of 3 B Stables came at dinner near the bottoms of a couple of bottles of wine.The three professional women who had just decided on buying a horse together struggled with a name for their stable. During the salads, they figured they'd come up with something sophisticated that represented their standing in the business world.But by dessert, filling their glasses a final time, they did what only good friends can do. They got down and dirty.Their best intentions deteriorated into this: 3 B Stables, meaning "three babes" or "three broads" or, if anyone asked publicly, "three beauties."

James Flora, 84, a noted children's author and one of the first artists to design and illustrate record album covers, died July 9 in Norwalk, Conn. His children's books included "The Fabulous Fireworks Family," "The Day the Cow Sneezed," "Charlie Yup and his Snip-Snap Boys" and "Wanda and the Bumbly Wizard."Roger Quilliot, 73, a former French government minister and expert on the writings of Albert Camus, killed himself Friday in Paris. His wife, Claire, also tried to kill herself and was hospitalized, the daily Le Monde newspaper reported Sunday.

If you were upset when you found out that NBC was trying to force Johnny Carson into retirement so it could replace him with the younger, less expensive Jay Leno, brace yourself and hold on tight to your channel changers. Another television icon -- this one bigger than Carson, Cronkite or any of the rest -- is getting the same shabby treatment: Lassie.Yes, Lassie, the ever-faithful and indefatigable collie who's been rescuing less-intelligent humans in TV land since 1954, is in big trouble.

A total of 138 horses have been pre-entered for the 12th Maryland Million on Oct. 18 at Laurel Park. Post positions for the 11 Maryland Million events will be drawn on Wednesday, when Laurel resumes thoroughbred racing after a six-week shutdown in Maryland.Maryland Million pre-entries:Lassie ($100,000)Gabe's Girl, Lost Wolf, Antonello, Maragold Princess, Just for Laughs, Wove To, Cosmah Topper, Tip of the Bullet, Valay Bullet, Evil Orange, Dr. Chaz, Expensive Issue, Sassy Reserve, Trillona Song, Rammer, Compelling Touch.

IF ANYONE doubts the country is going to hell in a handbasket, consider this depressing fact: For the first time in our history, there are now more cats than dogs as pets.As a longtime dog owner, I find this mystifying. Tell me something: What exactly is the appeal of a cat?Here is an animal with absolutely zero personality, an animal that displays all the affection of an eggplant, an animal that, if you let him, would gladly spend his days stalking schoolchildren and clawing the drapes and scratching a hole the size of a shotgun wound in your sofa.