Race Card

WASHINGTON -- When people ask me, as everyone seems to, what I think of the verdict in the O.J. Simpson trial, I have to ask, ''Which one?''There were two trials here. There was the inside trial that the jurors saw in which O.J. Simpson was being judged. And there was the outside trial that the rest of us saw, in which American society, particularly its system of justice, was on trial.Two sets of experiencesThe polls showed two-thirds of white Americans believed Mr. Simpson was guilty while two-thirds of blacks thought he was innocent.

THE UNIDENTIFIED caller described herself as a New Yorker who had moved to Baltimore. Taking exception to my Wednesday column, which suggested the city could do better than acting police Commissioner Ed Norris, the caller asked: "What about all the black drug dealers who are committing violent crimes in black neighborhoods?" I love to take a train of thought to its logical conclusion. The question can inspire several answers, not the least of which are these: What about all those white suburban drug users who drive into Baltimore and buy drugs from those black drug dealers and thus keep them in business and fuel the violence?

LAUREL -- Racing fans can get a quick start from the gate today when Laurel Race Course begins a 15-race program at 10:30 a.m.A live eight-race program, highlighted by the $75,000 Find Handicap, will be followed by simulcasts of the seven Breeders' Cup races. Post time for the first Breeders' Cup event, the Sprint, is 1:55 p.m.On a normal racing day, a showdown in the Find between Master Speaker and Baron de Vaux may have merited considerable attention. Master Speaker might be the best older horse in Maryland and Baron de Vaux the best 3-year-old.

I am not sure why some people are so shocked that Susan Smith blamed the kidnapping of her two children in Union, S.C., on a black man.I figure anyone evil enough to kill her own children is certainly evil enough to be a racist.But in the aftermath of this sad and bizarre tale has come the accusation that the reason white America was so quick to believe Smith's tale was because a black perpetrator was allegedly involved.In reality, however, I don't know many people who believed Smith's story.

D. Wayne Lukas has had plenty of success with horses running in the second leg of the Triple Crown. His five career wins at Pimlico's featured event speak for themselves. But this year, Lukas decided to take a slightly different approach. His horse, Optimizer, will be using Saturday's Preakness as an opportunity to prepare for the Belmont Stakes in June, the longest of the Triple Crown races - one Lukas thinks the colt has a better shot at winning. Lukas made a switch at jockey, giving the mount to Corey Nakatani to get the new rider some experience before the final leg of the Triple Crown three weeks from Saturday.

Live racing at Pimlico Race Course was canceled yesterday, and the track will not conduct a live card today because of Hurricane Isabel. Simulcast action will be available at both Pimlico and Laurel Park today. Pimlico originally planned to run yesterday, but increasing wind and weather reports that strong rains would arrive sooner in the day than first forecast caused the change. Eight races yesterday and nine scheduled for today were affected. "We had anticipated some winds this afternoon, but once the forecast called for heavy rain moving in earlier than expected, we had to make this decision," said Lou Raffetto, chief operating officer of the Maryland Jockey Club.

LAUREL -- When it rains, it's best to stay inside.As a steady rain soaked Laurel Race Course yesterday, jockeys aware of that fact found shelter in the winner's circle. Horses staying near the rail won virtually every event on a 10-race program."The track looked like it stayed pretty packed down on the rail," said jockey Mark Johnston. "The dirt on the outside hadn't washed down to the rail. Tomorrow [today], it might change, and you might have a dead rail."Johnston, riding Thirty Eight Coeds in the fifth, rode one of just two winners to maintain an outside course.

If you're waiting for this year's Preakness prediction, you're going to be waiting a long time. Lest anyone forget, it was almost exactly one year ago today that I declared Barbaro a "mortal lock" to win the Triple Crown and I've been dealing with that guilt ever since. I don't really believe in jinxes, but I turned off last Sunday's Orioles game in the top of the ninth inning because I was sure that the bullpen could hold a five-run lead at Fenway Park. If memory serves, I also picked the Ravens to beat the Colts in the playoffs and Sanjaya to win American Idol.

WASHINGTON -- Congress and President Clinton have approved a bill to save the District of Columbia government from total collapse. It is not going to be easy.The legislation accomplishes two priorities. First, it meets the District's need for a huge infusion of cash to keep even its present level of services intact. Second, it robs Mayor Marion Barry of the authority to decide how most of the money is spent, thus preventing it from being poured down some rathole.To no one's surprise, the program is not being universally applauded by those it is designed to help.

It had all the trappings of a racially explosive case: A black robber opens fire on an innocent white couple in a Southwest Baltimore park, the woman is fatally wounded by six bullets and her boyfriend suffers a thigh wound.But within 48 hours the case was solved: The boyfriend, Robert Harris, 23, was charged with paying $20,000 to an alleged hit man, Russell Raymond Brill, 22, of Arbutus.Police said Mr. Harris staged the robbery to collect a $150,000 life insurance policy on his fiancee, Teresa McLeod, 27. In fact, Ms. McLeod's 9-year-old son was the beneficiary.