Saratoga

Quick Mischief, ridden by Craig Perret, led all of the way during the $200,000 John A. Morris handicap for older fillies and mares and won by 6 3/4 lengths at Saratoga on Sunday. Quick Mischief covered the 1 1/8 miles in 1:47 2/5 on a fast track, the fastest time in this event since 1958, when Hoosier honey finished in 1:45 1/5. Versailles Treaty, the odds-on favorite, finished second in the seven-horse field, a half-length ahead of Shared Interest.

Mount Eden Vineyards Estate Chardonnay is consistently one of the finest from California. But this one from the winery's Saratoga line — designed to showcase the Santa Cruz Mountain terroir — is a real find at this price. The fruit is right there in the first sip. Light on the oak, the 2007 Saratoga Chardonnay carries a gentle lilt of citrus and a touch of anise. Like its big brother, it is Burgundian in style, grace in a glass. Bring it to a dinner party as a ringer: It could be mistaken for a very expensive bottle.

A somber mood has settled over the Saratoga, an aircraft carrier that has been plagued by misfortune. The crew copes with its losses in private ways, but thoughts about missing friends are never far from anyone's thoughts. In December, after finishing a tour in Operation Desert Shield, 21 sailors drowned during a port visit to Haifa, Israel, when their boat ferrying them back to the carrier overturned.

For the last four years, Father Gary Thomas has served at the Sacred Heart parish in Saratoga, Calif., a bucolic suburb of San Jose. But the 53-year-old Roman Catholic priest does a lot more than say Mass and listen to confessions ? he is also one of about 14 Vatican-certified exorcists working in the U.S. and the real-life counterpart to the character played by newcomer Colin O'Donoghue in the new thriller "The Rite," which opens Friday. Thomas became certified to practice exorcisms after completing 40 hours of study at the Vatican's Athenaeum Pontificium Regina Apostolorum in Rome.

It's amazing what can happen to good ideas on their way to the stage. It seemed like a good idea to take an old farce with a solid track record (Bronson Howard's 1870 "Saratoga"), dust it off and rewrite it for a modern audience with a new title: "Up in Saratoga." It seemed like a good idea to have playwright farceur Terrence McNally ("The Ritz," "Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune") deliver the reconstructed script.

Al Davis caused a commotion at Saratoga last Sunday. This wasn't the Raiders' Al Davis. It was a 4-year-old gelding with the same name, a horse named after the football executive. Al Davis, who earlier in the season had won a race at Saratoga by 10 lengths, was entered Sunday for a $45,000 claiming price. Frank (Pancho) Martin, who trains for Viola Sommer, put in a claim before the race for Al Davis. But the horse broke down during the running and had to be destroyed the next day.

A sloppy track was enough to keep Ogygian away from the $294,500 Travers Stakes at Saratoga Saturday, but the surface once again proved to the liking of Wise Times. With his task made easier by Ogygian's absence, Wise Times rallied in the final strides to defeat Broad Brush by a head and make the 117th Travers his second off-track victory in three weeks. He won the July 26 Haskell over an off track at Monmouth Park, beating Personal Best and Danzig Connection.

Purple hop bush Evergreen shrub with purple leaves and insignificant flowers The first Dodonaeas I ever noticed were (still are) at the Los Angeles State and County Arboretum in Arcadia--an entire hedge of them near an enormous live oak tree. One look at their extraordinary mahogany color and I knew I'd have to own one some day. I can't resist purple or silver leaves, or any of their reddish or gray permutations, and this weakness has occasionally led to disaster. But with Dodonaeas, I had a winner.

Claiborne Farm's Forty Niner took an early lead and pulled away to a three-length victory Sunday in the $148,500 Marlboro Cup Futurity for 2-year-olds at Belmont Park. Tsarbaby finished second, 2 lengths in front of 4-5 favorite Crusader Sword, who had won three straight races, including the Hopeful and the Saratoga Special. Endurance ran fourth. It was the third victory in four starts for Forty Niner, a son of Mr. Prospector who is trained by Woody Stephens.

Rough seas stranded 123 tourists aboard the aircraft carrier Saratoga, where they spent the night watching "Top Gun" with the crew and playing basketball on the hangar deck before being flown to shore on helicopters Sunday. The visitors had traveled to the ship in shuttle boats Saturday for a tour of the vessel, anchored 4 1/2 miles off Miami, but were stranded by 23-m.p.h. winds.

Star filly Rachel Alexandra made history at Saratoga Race Course by becoming the first female to win the prestigious Woodward Stakes on Saturday, holding off Macho Again by a head at Saratoga Springs, N.Y. The 3-year-old ran an electrifying race against the older boys for her ninth consecutive win and all but clinched horse-of-the-year honors. Rachel Alexandra dueled early with 2008 Belmont Stakes winner Da'Tara before taking the lead along the backstretch. She set a blistering early pace on the way to running 1 1/8 miles in 1:48.

The 70th race meeting at Del Mar begins today, and the prevailing image when it comes to this track is of large crowds embracing sunny days and gentle breezes. But a storm is brewing here, bad things happening days before the actual racing was set to start. Sunday morning, a maiden claimer named Mad for Plaid, trained by Peter Miller and owned by Steve Kenly, broke down in training and created an ugly scene that brought angry reaction all around.

My first night in Saratoga, the Hobo Pool lived up to its reputation as a communal public bath. Two sunburned young men flaunting tattoos and burly arms -- roughnecks working natural gas rigs -- stood waist deep in the sulfurous waters. Skinny backpackers just down from the national forest washed off the trail dust before changing into street clothes. Tourists mingled with ranch hands.

One week after Del Mar began its Polytrack era, horse racing's best summer meet will commence today in upstate New York. Saratoga, which towers over its California counterpart in terms of quality, kicks off its six-week season with a 10-race program. Clearly, everybody came ready to play because a total of 125 horses were entered, including nine in the day's main event, the $100,000 Schuylerville.

Aug. 18, 1932: The Saratoga was engaged in afternoon target maneuvers in the waters between Seal Beach and Huntington Beach when "the sandy bottom seemed suddenly to rise and clutch her keel in its vise-like grip," The Times reported. Suddenly run aground, the aircraft carrier "swung immediately parallel to the beach, port side to the shore and with her prow headed south," the newspaper said. It took three tugs and more than 3 1/2 hours to pull the Saratoga back into safe waters.

King Of The Roxy, who upset maidens at 11-1 on July 2 at Hollywood Park, will run for a new owner and trainer in his stakes debut in the $200,000 Saratoga Special Breeders' Cup today at Saratoga. The race is part of a pick six with a carry-over of $73,783.

Carlos Meyer quit his job as manager of an Alexandria, Va., restaurant so that he could go to Saratoga for the entire racing season and make his fortune. At the time, this did not appear to be a wholly rational decision. Meyer's bankroll was a meager $1,800 (of which at least half would be needed to pay his bar bill at the Cafe Broadway). Although Meyer would have access to the opinions of some ace gamblers at Saratoga, his own handicapping and betting tend to be erratic at best.

One week after the opening of Del Mar, the best meet of the summer begins today at Saratoga. The 36-day season, which begins this afternoon, will feature 15 Grade I stakes races, the first of which is the $500,000 Diana on Saturday. Today's 10-race card is highlighted by the $100,000 Schuylerville. A Grade III race for 2-year-old fillies at six furlongs, the Schuylerville drew eight entrants, including a pair of young ladies trained by Todd Pletcher.

GRACING the exhibition catalog cover for "Edge of Desire: Recent Art in India" is a detail from a painting by Nilima Sheikh titled "Firdaus II: Every Night Put Kashmir in Your Dreams." In it a man holds open his robe to reveal an abdominal wound, vaginal in suggestion, as well as a landscape replete with tiny meandering rivers, stepped mountains, lush and arid lands, temples and villages, curly clouds and wayward winds. The landscape covers the man's uncovered torso.