If passed in its present form, the “Unlawful Internet Gambling Act of 2005” would bar credit card companies and banks from transmitting money between account holders and bet takers. Of greater significance is that the proposed bill fails to do something the Interstate Horseracing Act did; provide an exception for racing.

Should the new bill pass in its present form, simulcasting via account wagering, the only area of growth the industry has seen in a decade, would cease to exist. When that happens, smaller-track and OTB failure becomes inevitable. Then, it would be a matter of time before mega-tracks followed suit.

What happened at the quarter pole at Pimlico last Saturday was one of the greatest racing moments I’ve experienced in four decades. Without seeing a videotape of the 1987 Kentucky Derby, the remarkable recovery and Preakness victory by Afleet Alex and Jeremy Rose was greater than that of Alysheba and Chris McCarron.

Now that would be a horseplayer’s debate worth having.

Thoroughbred racing has faced many serious challenges in modern times, from the race-fix scandals of three decades ago, to the Breeders’ Cup Fix Six of 2002, to the designer drug issues that dominate the tenor of all modern sports.

But today’s racing issues are different. The sport is being assailed on all sides, from the politically expedient to an indifferent mainstream press, from an issues-challenged industry media to the backstretch cheats. Racing is a state’s-rights-oriented industry that avoids when possible the mechanisms for policing itself on a national level.

Back in the day, a young writer was full of vigor and an uncontrolled passion for righting what was wrong. Old-schoolers told him not to fret, that the game was bigger than any one issue and that it would survive as it always had. On balance, they were right.

Unfortunately, yesterday’s vigor and uncontrolled passion has given way to anger and dread. The fan inside wants to enjoy the Triple Crown and Saratoga, Belmont in the fall and the Breeders’ Cup, events worth celebrating, indeed. But not even Sunday morning headlines trumpeting the achievements of a horse called Afleet Alex can erase the day-to-day, state-to-state, storylines of 2005.

A good friend and modestly successful harness-horse owner with whom I disrespectfully agree to disagree on virtually all matters racing, said this: “I sat back and watched the harness industry be reduced to what it has become today and believed it could never happen to the thoroughbreds. Now, I’m not so sure.”

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