SARATOGA SPRINGS, NY, July 21--Any regular reader of this space would know how I feel about Monmouth Park, both as an aesthetic racing experience and this year as a bold business experiment.

Whether the current meeting turns out to be a complete success at the bottom line or not--it only need prove to the state of New Jersey that thoroughbred racing remains a viable and important industry--the track deserves props for not accepting the status quo.

For the racing industry as a whole, their less-is-more model could prove a template for success in the years to come. Virtually all in the sport already agree that some form of contraction is the only way the sport can survive.

I’m rooting for Monmouth Park to live long and prosper. The industry has been, and will be, better for its existence.

I also had no issue with their doing everything possible to attract last year’s Haskell winner and reigning Horse of the Year Rachel Alexandra back to the Jersey Shore, which they did.

Saturday’s Lady’s Secret--the only remaining and ungraded version now that Santa Anita has relegated its Lady’s Secret to the scrapheap of quaint antiquities--is unrecognizable from the original condition book version.

No longer to be run on Haskell weekend, the Lady’s Secret will be run the day after tomorrow--in competition with Saratoga’s first Saratoga, a headline equalizer, at least--at a new distance, and for a lot more money. Rachel is already sunning herself at the Shore, having arrived Tuesday without incident, and scheduled for a paddock stroll tomorrow.

Apparently, Rachel’s camp wanted an easy race to underscore what the Fleur de Lis seemed to indicate; that Rachel is Rachel again. That, and to insure a foundation for the tougher challenges to come. Besides, competition among tracks for box office attractions has long been part of racing’s fabric.

Hopefully, however, when general manager Bob Kulina recently referred to the Haskell Invitational as the premier three-year-old race after the Triple Crown, after the Derby, he was only having a little fun.

We trust that Kulina was, a) referencing its place on the racing calendar and/or, b) that this year’s renewal will feature a meeting between the Derby and Preakness winners, both absent from this year’s Belmont Stakes.

Throw in Ice Box, the fast finishing Derby runner-up, and some talented new shooters and it’s the best renewal in decades.

Assuming that the division’s best can remain healthy, it is hoped they will continue to meet for the remainder of the season. But for all its recent history, the Haskell never has been confused with the “Midsummer Derby,” not even with its purse of $1.25 million exceeding the Travers’ by a cool quarter-mil.

There have been 42 renewals of the Haskell, first run in 1968, as opposed to the Travers, which will have its 141st running on August 28th. In this decade, the Haskell has attracted its share of stars with Rachel, Big Brown, and 2010 Hall of Fame inductee Point Given heading the winning roster.

In terms of brilliance, the Travers since 2001 counters with the aforementioned, Point Given, Medaglia d’Oro, and Bernardini, adding classics winners Summer Bird, Street Sense and Birdstone just for good measure.

The prior decade was first rate, too, with Holy Bull, Serena’s Song and Skip Away lending their prestige to Monmouth’s signature event. Travers history in the ‘90s countered with another repeater from the Haskell, Holy Bull, along with the brilliant Coronado’s Quest and the redoubtable Lemon Drop Kid.

The only way the Haskell Invitational can hope to match the prestige of the Travers--which it need not do to be considered a great event--would be to extend the distance to 10 furlongs. As presently constructed, however, and given its place on the calendar, that would never happen.

But if, say, Monmouth really wanted to match Saratoga, signature for signature, what if they extended the distance another furlong, up the purse again, and schedule the Haskell a week later in the season, a too-close three weeks from the Travers?

Saratoga then might counter by rescheduling the Travers at a later date, to Labor Day weekend, but that could backfire given the realities of the traditional vacation calendar.

This is all a bit fanciful, of course, but Monmouth never has not backed away from making audacious moves. It also always seems to act as if it resents its perceived roll as New York’s red-headed stepchild. But as events become curiouser and curiouser, who knows what the future could bring?