Breeders

Although former Pixies bassist Kim Deal is the only original remaining in the band, the five current Breeders play as equals. At Tuesday's Trocadero show, drummer Jose Medeles sat front and center, flanked by Deal and her guitarist twin sister, Kelley. Bassist Mando Lopez and guitarist Richard Presley - both of early L.A. punk band Fear - capped off each side, creating almost perfect symmetry. It was soon clear that this visual crispness would not be matched by the merrily shambolic sound offered by the group.

Forget about the nine-year gap between the Breeders' last record, the ricochet-rocking smash Last Splash, and their moody new Title TK (4AD/Elektra), the sturdiest, most honorable rock CD of 2002, a blunt, nonchalantly mid-tempo work recorded with a pure-analog, first-take feel by Steve Albini. After all, forgetting about the gap is what guitarist Kelley Deal is doing. "Thank God we're still releasing records and that people love that we're still raw," she said about the band's frenzied rock resolve.

The main objective was fun Friday night at the Theatre of Living Arts, where the Breeders made their first Philadelphia appearance in two years. It was like hanging out with old friends at a house party. When an audience member from the capacity crowd yelled out a garbled request, effervescent bandleader Kim Deal requested that she repeat it. When the reply was "Never mind," Deal playfully retorted, "Chicken!" While Deal and the band posed as laid-back partygoers, they certainly didn't play that way, unveiling new songs from a soon-to-be-recorded effort, their first in four years.

Philadelphia animal-cruelty officers say six Lancaster County breeders sold sick, defective dogs at an Ohio auction last October and should be prosecuted for animal abuse. The breeders say the investigators fabricated phony abuse in a stunt to fan media attention and spur donations from pet-lovers. A judge will decide who's right, because the breeders have filed a federal lawsuit against the Pennsylvania Society for the Prevention of Cruelty Against Animals (PSPCA) and Main Line Animal Rescue.

People who love dogs are cheering the first victory of a small but needed crusade: a law that gives new owners of sick dogs a better chance to recover medical costs from the sellers. Passage of the puppy lemon law - after a nine-year fight - should help cut the number of questionable breeders in Pennsylvania. Since the emergence of vast kennels in Lancaster County, the state has acquired the unenviable title of "the puppy mill capital of the East Coast. " Under the bill, buyers will be able to return a dog with a contagious disease for a full refund within 10 days, or have the seller, usually a pet store, pay the veterinarian bills up to the animal's cost.

ISUPPORT the proposed regulations to improve conditions for dogs in the state's commercial breeding facilities. Contrary to what some "breeders" may want you to believe, these regulations would have absolutely no impact on dog shows, dog parks or other dog events. They would also greatly improve the sanitary conditions in commercial breeding facilities. If a breeder is truly responsible and in compliance with the current law, what's the problem? G. Karlkvist, Bensalem

BUSH IS DEPARTING OFFICE WITH A PRESIDENTIAL HONOR President Bush has been awarded the Millard Fillmore Society's tongue-in- cheek "Medal of Mediocrity," beating out runners-up Woody Allen, Vice President Quayle and the Postal Service. The group said Bush clinched its 1992 award when his popularity plummeted from a record high after the Persian Gulf war and he lost the Nov. 3 presidential election to Bill Clinton. The award is given each year around the time of Fillmore's birthday, which is Jan. 7. It honors "mediocrity to combat the rising tide of overachievers.

You have two young kids and only a tiny back yard. And while there's almost always someone home, the family does like to go on an occasional weeklong vacation. And now, during this holiday season, you're thinking about getting a dog. Where do you go to find the right breed - a canine that'll be good with the kids, doesn't need a lot of running room and might travel well in the family van? Ideally, you'd want to contact a breeder - someone knowledgeable about the finer points of a particular animal.

More than two years ago, Tyler Olson, then 16 months old, of Little Egg Harbor Township in Ocean County, N.J., had his right arm ripped off above the elbow by a neighbor's dog, which was part wolf. After an agonizing ordeal to save his arm, the toddler had a stroke, fell into a coma, lost the arm and had part of his brain removed. But miraculously, Tyler lived. And yesterday, Superior Court Judge Rosalie Cooper in Toms River awarded the Olsons $850,000. "We're happy with it, definitely happy with it," said Tyler's father, Howard Olson.

Drew Brining of Hammonton is only 12, but already he's signed up with the Southern New Jersey African Violet Club. He's even breeding his own plants. It helps that his mother, Donna, is club president and owner of Fancy Bloomers, an African violet business. Still, he's unusual on two fronts: He's young and he's male in a segment of the horticultural world saddled with a "little old lady" image that just won't quit. Back in the '50s and '60s, when the craze peaked, African violets were the favorite of stay-at-home moms and grandmothers.

A 38-year-old snake breeder who was shot in Ridley Township while trying to sell 20 pythons worth about $12,000 is a computer software engineer from Douglassville who has a snake-breeding business on the side. Mark L. Haas remains in intensive care with a collapsed lung at Crozer-Chester Medical Center after being shot Sunday in the parking lot of Woodlyn Shopping Center, said Ridley Police Lt. Scott Willoughby. His injuries are not life-threatening, he said. Haas was supposed to sell the snakes to a buyer from New York, but police still do not know if the deal went bad or Haas was the victim of a random carjacking.

A 38-year-old snake breeder who was shot in Ridley Township while trying to sell 20 pythons worth about $12,000 is a computer software engineer from Douglassville who has a snake-breeding business on the side. Mark L. Haas remains in intensive care with a collapsed lung at Crozer-Chester Medical Center after being shot Sunday in the parking lot of Woodlyn Shopping Center, said Ridley Police Lt. Scott Willoughby. His injuries are not life-threatening, he said. Haas was supposed to sell the snakes to a buyer from New York, but police still do not know if the deal went bad or Haas was the victim of a random carjacking.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - The long green pole has four lights that illuminate the finish line when darkness falls at Churchill Downs. If that pole had been the finish line in Saturday's $2 million Breeders' Cup Juvenile, Union Rags, the colt with all the Pennsylvania connections, would have finished 2011 unbeaten, the unanimous 2-year-old champion and the really strong favorite for the 2012 Kentucky Derby. That pole, however, is a few yards beyond the finish line. Free-running, front-running Hansen was still in front when they hit the wire.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - A 41-1 shot stabled at Parx Racing began Saturday's Breeders' Cup races with a bang, pulling off the day's biggest upset in the Breeders' Cup's longest race. Afleet Again, a son of Afleet Alex recently sold by some of the sire's owners to Robert and Susan Krangel's Kasey K Racing Stable - and trained by Bensalem's Butch Reid all along - won the 1¾- mile $500,000 Marathon by 2¼ lengths. The colt is the first horse stabled at Parx - or PhiladelphiaPark or any of its previous incarnations - to ever win a Breeders' Cup race and was the longest shot in the Marathon field after failing to see the winner's circle in his last 13 starts.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - A day of Breeders' Cup surprises began with a horse from Philadelphia pulling off a massive upset on the Breeders' Cup undercard, and climaxed with some head-turners on horse racing's biggest day. The two most accomplished local horses, 4-year-old filly Havre de Grace and 2-year-old eye-opener Union Rags, wound up short of the big prizes. Jockey Mike Smith, who couldn't quite get there in last year's Breeders' Cup Classic with the great filly Zenyatta, pulled off an upset Saturday, and made some Breeders' Cup history of his own, as 2010 Belmont Stakes winner Drosselmeyer won the $5 million Classic, the sport's richest event, coming from behind - "out of nowhere," screamed the track announcer - for a 11/2-length victory over Game On Dude.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Phyllis Wyeth moved around Churchill Downs Friday morning with good humor and uncanny agility, past sawhorses, over speed bumps, bypassing barn ponies and sloppy and puddled horse paths in a souped-up scooter. Arriving at Barn 21, Wyeth asked if the horse had come out yet. "You must know the great horse?" Wyeth added with a laugh. Union Rags, favored to win Saturday's Breeders' Cup Juvenile, undefeated in three starts as a 2-year-old, was about to go out for a morning gallop.

Hunches for Breeders' Cup: TODAY: Juvenile Sprint: Secret Circle, Vexor, Seeker, Sum of the Parts Juvenile Fillies & Mares Turf: Somali Lemonade, Elusive Kate, Sweet Cat, StopShoppingMaria Filly & Mare Sprint: Switch, Pomeroy's Pistol, Turbulent Descent, Great Hot Juvenile Fillies: My Miss Aurelia, WeMissFrankie, Grace Hall, Northern Passion Filly & Mare Turf: Nahrain, Stacelita, Announce, Aruna Ladies Classic:...

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Final exams have arrived. If you start to study today, you have no chance. Understanding the 15 Breeders' Cup races today and tomorrow require yearlong dedication - watching races, seeing how horses develop, following trainer plans. And then it is time to get involved.   TODAY Juvenile Sprint 1. Secret Circle. 2. Sum of the Parts. 3. Vexor. Secret Circle may be the shortest price over 2 days and the most likely winner. On tape, this colt was as smooth as he was fast.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Uncle Mo was supposed to return to Churchill Downs for the Breeders' Cup as a conquering hero. He was the buzz horse entering the Kentucky Derby, having won the first four races of his career and earning top 2-year-old honors. But he never made it to the starting gate. Uncle Mo was knocked out on Derby eve by a serious liver disease. When owner Mike Repole left Louisville in May, he didn't know whether he would ever see his best horse again. The colt was sidelined for four months because of the illness, leaving Repole, trainer Todd Pletcher, and others around Uncle Mo to wonder whether it was a race he could win. Now he appears to be back on his game.