Tom Knust

After nearly five hours of punishing, draining tennis, the United States was left with an unmistakable fact: It is out of the Davis Cup again, and the days of relying on Pete Sampras and Andre Agassi are long gone. The latest loss came in the semifinals Sunday when Andy Roddick lost, 17-15, to Russia's Dmitry Tursunov in a fifth-set marathon at Russia. "You feel like you let your teammates down and your country down," Roddick said.

There's a new superstar horse in the turf division, and his name is Aragorn, a 4-year-old Irish-bred son of Giant's Causeway. In obliterating the Del Mar course record for 1 1/8 miles on the turf Sunday, Aragorn took command entering the stretch under jockey Corey Nakatani and pulled away for a four-length triumph over Sweet Return in the $400,000 Eddie Read Handicap, a Grade I stakes race. Aragorn's final time of 1 minute 44.79 seconds surpassed the course record of 1:45.

The turbulent career of 45-year-old jockey Patrick Valenzuela took another downward turn Friday when the California Horse Racing Board terminated his conditional riding license after learning of a recent arrest for driving under the influence of alcohol. A statement issued by outgoing CHRB Executive Director Ingrid Fermin said that "consuming or being under the influence of alcohol is a violation" of the conditional license. Valenzuela was arrested Dec. 20 at 2:48 a.m.

Marion Jones has been included in the U.S. track and field team for this weekend's IAAF World Cup at Athens. Jones has not yet confirmed her participation, USA Track & Field said in a statement Monday, although her manager told Reuters that she was planning to compete in the 100 meters at Athens. In a telephone interview from his Texas office, Charlie Wells said Jones would race at the World Cup meeting and in Shanghai later this month.

In most sports, when things go badly, as they often have the last few years in horse racing, they fire the person in charge. That person is safe in horse racing. He or she doesn't exist. It is a sport without a rudder, an asylum run by the inmates. Not that they haven't tried. In January 1994, racing appointed a man named Brian McGrath as head of the Thoroughbred Racing Assn. He was supposed to be the czar of the sport, even though he knew little about it.

If Ron Ellis had his way, and he says his opinion is shared by many other trainers, Santa Anita wouldn't use its new $2.3-million turf course much during the Oak Tree meeting. Long one of this circuit's high-percentage trainers, Ellis was speaking right after his Denim Yenem had won Oak Tree's opening-day feature, the $105,400 Autumn Days Handicap, the first race run on the new sod.

I guess it all depends on how you want to look at it--the Angels' glass is either one-third full or two-thirds empty. . . . Thumbs up to a team that was widely picked to finish last in the American League West, tore apart the division for months, won its last five regular-season games and forced a playoff. . . . Thumbs down to a team that blew an 11-game lead on Aug. 10 and lost the playoff, 9-1. . .

The jockey with the familiar "P Val" on the back of his helmet was in the saddle as horses galloped around the track during training hours Friday morning at Santa Anita. But whether Patrick Valenzuela will be in the irons on opening day of the Oak Tree meet Wednesday depends on the outcome of the latest legal wrangling involving the California Horse Racing Board and the brilliant but often troubled jockey with a history of substance abuse. "I'm here today working horses and I'm healthy.

Serena Williams took another step in her comeback from a chronic left knee injury, beating Bethanie Mattek, 6-3, 6-1, Thursday to advance to the quarterfinals of the Western & Southern Financial Group Women's Open in Mason, Ohio. Williams will face Amy Frazier in today's quarterfinals. Fifth-seeded Jelena Jankovic beat Maria Elena Camerin, 6-4, 6-4, and Vera Zvonareva beat Varvara Lepchenko, 6-0, 6-2. Meanwhile, Williams, a two-time U.S.

When Ron McAnally saw Neil Drysdale in the paddock the other day at Hollywood Park, he joshed with his fellow trainer about the weight assignments for Sunday's $200,000 Vanity Handicap. McAnally asked Drysdale whether he and Eual Wyatt, Hollywood's racing secretary, might be related. Drysdale, of course, will laugh all the way to the winner's circle if his Gorgeous, carrying 124 pounds, beats McAnally's Bayakoa, at 128 pounds, in the 1 1/8-mile stake.