Sir Barton

Trainer Phil Marino withdrew Lead Em Home as a Preakness horse yesterday and entered him instead in Saturday's $100,000 Sir Barton Stakes, assuring Torrid Sand his place in the field. "The owner left it up to me. I think I was using my better judgment by taking him out," Marino said. "I may drop-kick myself by doing it. Believe me, he could have done all right in the Preakness. "The Sir Barton is going to be almost as tough as the Preakness. This is my horse's home track and he loves it."

The field for the 124th Preakness Stakes next Saturday at Pimlico could feature two fillies -- the first time since 1921 more than one filly has contested the race.Bob Baffert said yesterday that he plans on entering Silverbulletday and Excellent Meeting in the Preakness. He had said earlier he was considering Silverbulletday, but not Excellent Meeting.Silverbulletday has never run against males. Against fillies, she has won 10 of 11 races, including the Kentucky Oaks April 30 at Churchill Downs.

Handicapping took on a new dimension at Pimlico yesterday. Form, class and pace became secondary. Finding a betting window with a live person and more importantly, a live machine behind it was the day's most important variant.A blown transformer knocked out power to most of the facility before The Sir Barton Stakes. Suddenly finding a working teller became as challenging as putting together a winning super trifecta."It's OK with me. This place just saved me a ton," said Buddy Snipes, a convenience store operator from Fayetteville, N.C.Snipes was waiting for the Preakness to bring out the heavy iron.

Early returns from the first Colonial Downs harness meeting are not promising.Opening night, the track drew a crowd of 6,153 and handled $924,018, not bad figures compared with last fall's thoroughbred stand.But the numbers fell off dramatically during the next two cards -- to 2,003 attendance and $401,698 in handle last Sunday, a money figure lower than any single day of the thoroughbred meet.The figures include totals bet on Colonial's races at simulcast outlets around the country."It's uncharted water here.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- The Kentucky Derby never fails to attract a few entries with, shall we say, dubious credentials.But a horse without a victory in 15 career starts?A horse that has covered more than 13 miles in his racing career without once holding the lead?"He don't know about any of that," said Rafael Martinez, the assistant trainer for Nationalore, a dark bay California colt who has finished second or third 11 times, but never first.Three maidens, as nonwinners are called at the track, have won the Derby before.

The Maryland Racing Commission yesterday found itself in the middle of the swirling controversy about proposed legislation designed to promote the industry in the state.The body's monthly meeting turned into a debate after Alan Foreman, attorney for the Maryland Thoroughbred Horsemen's Association, introduced a memo with the letterhead of the Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation that said the commission opposed bills that would provide financial relief to racing.Foreman, representatives of Laurel and Pimlico, the state's breeders and Standardbred interests received the communique at Tuesday's hearings of the Senate Finance Committee in Annapolis.

Eclipse Award winner Serena's Song, the Black-Eyed Susan Stakes champion last year, and Mecke, the favorite in the Grade II $200,000 Early Times Dixie, headline a star-studded field on today's Preakness undercard.Serena's Song has drawn only four rivals to test her in the first big race of the afternoon (fourth on the card), the Grade III $200,000 Pimlico Distaff at 1 1/8 miles.Despite a three-race losing streak, she figures to be a short-priced choice for trainer D. Wayne Lukas, particularly after her easy victory in the 1995 Black-Eyed Susan over the same Pimlico track.

It looks as if Marylanders will have a rooting interest in the Belmont Stakes.Maryland-bred Woods of Windsor is going to bypass the race in favor of the June 19 Ohio Derby.But Pimlico-based trainer Leon Blusiewicz is planning to run Raglan Road, winner of the Sir Barton Stakes on the Preakness undercard, in the June 5 classic. In the Sir Barton, Raglan Road, owned by Paul Fitzpatrick of Plantation, Fla., beat Premier Commander by a length."What I'm hoping is that my horse is peaking, when the others are coming back [tailing off]

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If it's true that every dog has his day, then yesterday was it for 1,650 pooches at the finale of the Maryland Kennel Club's 79th All-Breed Dog Show in a crowded Fifth Regiment Armory.Dog owners, judges and canine aficionados came from as far as California and Florida to take part in the nation's fourth oldest dog show.More than 5,000 humans were on hand for the two-day affair, petting, prodding and admiring the four-legged contenders representing 126 different breeds -- from Afghans and Alaskan malamutes to Rhodesian Ridgebacks.