Horses

Donna Summer's family says the singer died of lung cancer even though she wasn't a smoker. TMZ says the diva believed she contracted the disease by breathing in toxic air after the Sept. 11 attacks in New York. Summer, who died Thursday at 63 in Naples, Fla., lived near ground zero. Summer's family rep, Brian Edwards, also said on Friday that the singer's funeral would be private and declined to disclose a time or place for the event. J-Lo: I'm undecided Jennifer Lopez denies she's already quit American Idol.

Local horse-racing aficionados have been waiting for today with great anticipation. Barbaro, owned by Roy and Gretchen Jackson of West Grove, Chester County, will take the second step in the Triple Crown odyssey by trying to win the Preakness Stakes in Baltimore. Not far from West Grove, nearly five hours earlier, 20,000 fans are expected at the W. Burling Cocks Memorial Racecourse in Willistown Township for the 76th Radnor Hunt Races, the third leg of steeplechasing's Triple Crown.

DOUG O'NEILL visited Ravens rookie camp on Sunday. He ran in Saturday's Preakness 5K. He was scheduled to throw out the first pitch before Tuesday's Orioles-Yankees game. He introduced top plays on ESPN. He was interviewed at a Lakers-Nuggets playoff game. He got to hang out with Ron Turcotte, the legendary Secretariat's jockey. The trainer of Kentucky Derby winner I'll Have Another has also been answering questions about all those other horses he has overseen through the years, including those that tested positive for illegal drugs.

In the dining room of their 18th-century Chadds Ford farmhouse, a Jamie Wyeth painting depicts a pastoral scene but a slightly chaotic one - his wife, Phyllis, in the midst of their farm animals. "Just the menagerie Phyllis has created around this place - the peacock, the emus, the black cat. A fox carrying on with the chickens," Jamie Wyeth said the other day, standing in front of the painting, titled Pointlookout Farmlife. Amid the swans and low-flying geese in the bottom right corner, kicking at some of those chickens with his hind legs, is a yearling.

As Buck Brannaman says, he doesn't work with people with horse problems. He works with horses with people problems. The documentary "Buck," directed by Cindy Meehl, follows the horse trainer as he travels across the country and teaches people how to work with their equine mates in ways that are both effective and far-reaching. Several interviewees who attended Brannaman's clinics proselytize about his methods, claiming that they not only learn to train their horses correctly, but his teachings bleed over into their real lives as well, in how they go about their jobs and treat their kids and spouses.

Horses and riders gathered at the two weekends of the Montgomery County Horse Show for English and Western competition and a country fair. Held at the St. Helena's Church fairgrounds in Center Square, the show, started 29 years ago, featured Western riders Sept. 13 and English Sept. 20. More than 5,000 people attended.

The fact that the horses that came in first and second in the Kentucky Derby were the only ones not on medication should make owners and trainers stop and think. Edith C. McKay Bryn Mawr.

In an intimate show at Stepping Stone Farm in Wycombe, the Lipizzan Stallions were on display last weekend. The audience was seated no more than three rows deep around the ring. Col. Otto Herrmann narrated the show and told how he fled Austria with the horses during World War II.

When Sherman and Carol Leis bought a pair of Egyptian Arabian horses six years ago, they not only had two beautiful animals to show, but they also had the beginnings of a business called Penn Valley Arabians. "When we met people who not only enjoyed horses but also made money from them, we got interested," said Sherman Leis, who is professor of surgery and chief of the Division of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery at the Osteopathic Medical Center. They now have 15 Egyptian Arabian horses, some of which they show and some of which they sell.

When: Thursday-June 3, 8 a.m.-11 p.m. Where: Route 30, Devon, Pa. What: The Devon Horse Show and country fair features hunters, jumpers, three- and five-gaited saddle horses, hackney and fine harness horses and ponies, breeding classes and coaching competitions. The open-jumping competition this year is scheduled to feature 14 riders who are vying for spots on the show-jumping team for the Olympics in London. The country fair is open 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily and 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. on Sunday.

The Maryland Sprint Handicap Pimlico, Race 8 - Post 3:12 $100,000 G III, 3 y.o., 6 fur. 1. Immortal Eyes. . . Travis Dunkelberger. . . 5-1 2. Action Andy. . . Horacio Karamanos. . . 6-1 3. Diski Dance. . . Angel Arroyo. . . 4-1 4. Wildcat Brief. . . Ramon Dominguez. . . 10-1 5. Lay Line Force. . . Brandon Whitacre. . . 30-1 6. My Cuz C J. . . Malcolm Franklin. . . 15-1 7. Hamazing Destiny. . . Corey Nakatani. . . 7-2 8. Bandbox.

DOUG O'NEILL visited Ravens rookie camp on Sunday. He ran in Saturday's Preakness 5K. He was scheduled to throw out the first pitch before Tuesday's Orioles-Yankees game. He introduced top plays on ESPN. He was interviewed at a Lakers-Nuggets playoff game. He got to hang out with Ron Turcotte, the legendary Secretariat's jockey. The trainer of Kentucky Derby winner I'll Have Another has also been answering questions about all those other horses he has overseen through the years, including those that tested positive for illegal drugs.

Doug O'Neill visited the Baltimore Ravens rookie camp Sunday. He ran in Saturday's Preakness 5-kilometer run. He was scheduled to throw out the first pitch before Tuesday's Orioles-Yankees game. He introduced top plays on ESPN. He was interviewed at a Lakers-Nuggets playoff game. He got to hang out with Ron Turcotte, the legendary jockey for Secretariat. The trainer of Kentucky Derby winner I'll Have Another has also been answering questions about all those other horses he has overseen through the years, including those that tested positive for illegal drugs.

ELKTON, Md. - Michael Matz entered a horse in the Preakness on Wednesday. It just wasn't the horse he had been thinking for months he would be running in Saturday's race at Pimlico. If you had just dropped by Matz's barn at the Fair Hill Training Center on Wednesday morning with no context, it all looked so routine. Sets of horses came off the track as the next group was readied for the track. Some horses walked the shed row. Others were outside getting cleaned up. After the outside work was done, Matz took to the phone to call racing offices to enter horses for weekend races.

LEXINGTON, Ky. — If you're a horse enthusiast, sooner or later you're going to have to make the pilgrimage to Kentucky. And if — like me — it's your daughters who are the enthusiasts, then the odds are 2-1 it's going to be sooner. So when spring break arrived last year and my wife couldn't take any time off, I loaded my twin daughters into the car for the nine-hour drive west from Philadelphia to Lexington, the self-proclaimed (not that anyone disputes it) "Horse Capital of the World.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Horse rumors often start with a kernel of truth - a physical idiosyncrasy suddenly becomes an Achilles heel, an equipment change that would be unnoticed or ignored some other week gets studied and analyzed. This, however, is Kentucky Derby week. Kentucky Derby horses, especially top Derby contenders, are scrutinized from all angles. Railbirds watch, binoculars focus in, and everybody talks - except the trainers, who typically don't say much more than their horses, adding to the intrigue.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — It was a Monday morning in Dubai, a few hours before dawn. In New Mexico, it was still Sunday afternoon and one of Bob Baffert's horses had just won the Sunland Oaks. Congratulatory texts woke him so he decided to check out one of his horses in the Sunland Derby. He fired up a laptop to watch online. Baffert, 59, was feeling something in his chest he knew he was not supposed to be feeling. If he was alone, he feels certain he would have been in denial and just ignored the chest pain.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - I do not think this Kentucky Derby is all that complicated. With a few exceptions, there are far more knowns than unknowns with these 20 horses. It is not difficult to envision how this race will be run and which horses might be hindered or helped by the pace scenario. The running styles are self-evident. The race has all types with talent from the front to the back. The Breeders' Cup Juvenile form has held for 6 months. Three horses who did not run on Nov. 5 have forced themselves into the conversation.