Breed

Think breeding is an exact science? "Breed the best to the best and hope for the best" is the old Kentucky axiom. But how about "breed the real good to the awful?" Nonsense, right? Well, not in the case of this year's Kentucky Derby favorite. Demons Begone is by Elocutionist, who won the 1976 Preakness and nine of 12 starts. His mother is Rowdy Angel, who raced 13 times over two years and never won a race. Bill Oppenheim, the editor of Racing Update, a breeding publication based in Lexington, Ky., planned the mating.

Two federal judges had a good look yesterday at Edward "Fast Eddie" Lawlor, a vice president of the Breed, an outlaw motorcycle club, and apparently didn't like what they saw. U.S. District Judge John B. Hannum jailed Lawlor for up to 20 years for trafficking in the drug methamphetamine ("speed") in the Kensington-Fishtown area, and for possession of firearms by a convicted felon. Later, U.S. District Judge Raymond J. Broderick ordered Lawlor to pay about $100,000 to the Internal Revenue Service.

KENNETH Phillips says the American pit bull terrier wasn't bred to be man's best friend. Maybe he doesn't remember Pete the Pup from the "Little Rascals," or Buster Brown's Tige. Maybe he doesn't know that Helen Keller had one for a seeing-eye dog, or that Teddy Roosevelt had one. He probably doesn't know that this dog's roots are in England, and came over here with the Founding Fathers. Yes, they were bred for aggression, but never, ever against humans. That came when irresponsible and unscrupulous people got their hands on them.

The merry, affectionate little shih tzu, an Oriental toy dog that, except for a few scattered specimens, has been in America only since the end of World War II, has skyrocketed in popularity to 11th among all breeds registered with the American Kennel Club. More than 40,000 were listed last year, an increase of 122 percent in a decade. A new book on the breed, The Shih Tzu Heritage by Jon Ferrante (Denlinger's Publishers, Box 76, Fairfax, Va. 22030, $39.95 plus $3.05 handling), is dedicated to the Chinese Empress Tzu Hsi, who during her reign, 1861 to 1908, virtually controlled world access to the shih tzu. She adored the breed and insisted that eunuchs assigned to care for the dogs keep immaculate records of pedigrees, breedings, colors and markings.

The horse's lustrous, raisin-colored coat glistened in the sun as he strode, his head nodding and legs moving in a rapid four-beat gait, around the dirt rectangle at Walker Crossing Stables in rural Limerick Township. One-two-three-four. One-two-three-four. The gelding's hooves moved in rapid succession at the speed of a trot, but he never broke into the common two-beat gait. "That's called overstride," stable owner Julie Bahr, 41, said in a Missouri accent with a hint of Texas.

Civil War history buffs may recall the October morning in 1864 that Gen. Phil Sheridan's troops became nearly overwhelmed in battle at Cedar Creek, Va., while Sheridan, about 20 miles away in Winchester, lounged over breakfast. When the general learned of the attack, he mounted his horse and took off for the battlefield to rally his troops: ". . . And there, through the flush of the morning light, A steed as black as the steeds of night Was seen to pass, as with eagle flight, As if he knew the terrible need; He stretch'd away with his utmost speed; Hills rose and fell; but his heart was gay . . . " The exerpt, from Thomas Buchanan Read's poem about Sheridan's successful ride, and written accounts by eyewitnesses, speak to the stength and stamina of Sheridan's spunky horse, Rienzi, which had been given to the general in 1862.

Cats returns to Philadelphia's Forrest Theater on Thursday, and with it comes the chance to renew acquaintances with a new, younger breed of performer, a breed that has replaced the glamorous musical-comedy stars of the past. The show, booked for eight weeks (it played 16 weeks at the Forrest two seasons ago), comes without a single marquee name, on Broadway as well as on tour. Instead, it depends on an emsemble of 22 young entertainers trained to dance, sing and act, all at the same time.

A dog fancier will have a difficult time choosing which dog show to attend today. There are many of them, including one of the nation's most important shows, the Montgomery County Kennel Club all-terrier feature. That event, held at the Temple University campus, Butler Pike and Meetinghouse Road in Ambler, is the biggest competition in the world for terrier breeds. More than 2,100 dogs from all parts of the United States and Canada are entered this year. Terrier owners consider a win at Montgomery even more important than one at Westminster.

A crystal-methamphetamine distribution ring allegedly run by the Breed motorcycle gang has been broken and 15 members from Philadelphia, Bucks and Montgomery Counties and New Jersey were in custody or were being sought, Pennsylvania Attorney General Tom Corbett said yesterday. From May 2005 through June 2006, he said, the gang's Pennsylvania chapter distributed more than 120 pounds of crystal meth, with a street value of more than $11.25 million. Corbett said a statewide investigation and a grand jury found that from its clubhouse at 3707 Spruce St. in Bristol, the gang "had terrorized Lower Bucks County for several decades by committing crimes involving illegal drug dealing, thefts, extortion, witness intimidation and assaults.

Getting accustomed to your new neighbor can be tough sometimes. Particularly when the neighbor is a seven-story, 368-bed, 680,000-square-foot regional medical center. Just ask Marc and Robin Bailey of Voorhees, who live on three formerly bucolic acres now about 800 feet from Virtua Hospital's loading docks. The couple has resided on a woodsy stretch of Dutchtown Road since 1989; the state-of-the-art, soon-to-expand medical campus opened along nearby Route 73 on May 22. "I get woken up all hours of the night," says Marc, 46, a project manager for an equipment-testing company.

Police serving a narcotics warrant Thursday afternoon discovered a hoard of small dogs stowed inside two filthy Port Richmond rowhouses. Officers found 33 dogs - many caked in feces - in two homes on the 2000 block of East Victoria Street. Ten dogs were found in one home, 23 in another home about three houses away, said an SPCA spokeswoman. With the exception of a Husky and a Chow Chow, the dogs included Pomeranians, Chihuahuas, several small Maltese-like, and poodle mixes, said the SPCA's Wendy Marano, adding that most of the dogs appeared to be well-fed.

In their annual stocktaking, University City District officials last week made a compelling case for crowing about the West Philadelphia community that's home to universities, hospitals, and research and scientific enterprises. With multimillion-dollar projects like a new Hilton, hospital research towers, student housing, and the University of Pennsylvania's eastward expansion over 14 acres of former U.S. Postal Service parking along the Schuylkill, the neighborhood anchored by Penn, Drexel University, and 30th Street Station may be Philadelphia's busiest development hub. It's particularly exciting to see development like the Penn campus extension that helps to cement the link, both visually and physically, with Center City.

BARCELONA, Spain - Matadors drove the killing sword into bulls for the last time yesterday in Spain's powerful northeastern region of Catalonia. Three of Spain's top bullfighters, including No. 1 Jose Tomas, starred in the sold-out show at Barcelona's 20,000-seat Monumental ring. Many fans then invaded the ring to grab handfuls of sand to keep as souvenirs. The bullfighters were later carried shoulder high from the ring into the streets outside the bullring while the crowd chanted slogans in favor of freedom and against the prohibition.

Lest we ever forget their brave sacrifices, this is dedicated to all those Phillies fans who never saw a parade. For all those Philadelphians who, almost without exception between 1883 and the mid-1970s, annually found the capacity to hope for hopeless teams. For all those whose love for baseball was challenged, tested, and assaulted season after second-division season. For all those innocents who endured the childhood trauma of 100-loss seasons and forever bore the scars of rooting for teams whose noblest ambition was seventh place.

Lots of high school quarterbacks play other positions. Some are safeties. Some are cornerbacks. Some big and brave ones are linebackers. Brian Keller is a quarterback who also plays defensive end. "That might be his best position," Triton coach Pete Goetz said. At 6-foot-3 and 225 pounds, Keller is built like a defensive end. But he regards himself as a quarterback who plays defensive end, not the other way around. "Quarterback is my positon," Keller said.

Chicken Little famously ran around warning that the sky was falling. Warning time has passed in TNT's new series, the summer's main basic-cable event, as scurrying aliens, their blaster airplanes, and clanking doomsday robots have ravaged the countryside and killed most everybody. Yet the surprisingly captivating series is called Falling Skies , not Fallen Skies , because, six months in, plucky bands of citizen soldiers and civilians are still fighting to survive, even if the human criminals are getting discouraged.

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. - Months after Missouri voters approved a measure cracking down on some of the nation's most notorious puppy mills, lawmakers have voted to repeal much of the law because they say it's too costly and punishes legitimate breeders who generate an estimated $1 billion annually in the state. Others complain that elected officials have overruled the will of the people, and some are prepared to put the issue on the ballot again next year. Wayne Pacelle, president of the Humane Society of the United States, said public confidence is undercut when about 100 lawmakers change a law backed by about one million voters.

Most of the region's highway authority members and bridge commissioners, even those who sit on the controversial Delaware River Port Authority, are unpaid. But for years, members of the Burlington County Bridge Commission operated under the radar, receiving annual salaries of more than $14,400, plus health benefits and pension credits, to prepare for and attend monthly meetings. That policy effectively ended in the fall when the last paid commissioner got her final check. Unwilling to work free, she completed her term and was replaced late last month by an appointee who will work gratis.

Oaks went to the dogs on Saturday. And the thousands who padded through the National Dog Show wouldn't have had it any other way. The show is much more than exhibition and competition: It's a doggie-palooza that attracts 2,000 top pooches of more than 150 breeds, spread out across the expanse of the Greater Philadelphia Expo Center in central Montgomery County. Competing are some of the absolute best dogs in the country, show chair Bill Burland said. One of them: a Welsh terrier named Aria, who is "calm and sweet and loving and smart," according to her owner, Cathy Franois, who traveled here from Virginia.