The first Sunday in May.

Don't we have the most beautiful gas stations here in New Jersey? I know, the price is beautiful too, unless you live here, then we curse it like death. Chances are, you're wishing your price was the same as ours, but then ask yourself, "Do I really want to live in New Jersey?" It might be worth fifteen cents to say, "No."

It's always worth $3.45 for me to leave the car sit during the day on Sunday. It isn't much of an effort, since (a) everything I need is within 5 miles of home and (b) I really don't have any place to go. Besides, the girls were playing golf over on ESPN2 and Paula was in the lead ... until she gave it up to Juli Inkster on the 18th hole, forcing a playoff for the second straight week. This time Paula came out on top.

So, another horse died on the track this weekend. This one, Eight Belles, finished second in the Kentucky Derby. It isn't all that unusual. The trouble-makers at PETA want the jockey suspended.

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) is seeking the suspension of Eight Belles' jockey after the filly had to be euthanized following her second-place finish in the Kentucky Derby on Saturday.

Reports by veterinarians at 34 tracks across the country between June 2007 and early this year showed synthetic tracks averaged 1.47 fatalities per 1,000 starts, compared with 2.03 fatalities per 1,000 starts for horses that ran on dirt.

Either way, horse racing is fatal about 0.2-percent of the time, so the fact that it happened on national television in the biggest race of the year shouldn't be a reason for PETA to be assed-up over it. The fact that it happens at all is, however.

Horses race for our enjoyment and our financial enhancement. Regardless of what the trainers tell us, they don't have a "winner's look" in their eye or any inherit desire to win. That's something they say to salve their conscience. They make that excuse when they believe it fits their purpose. They're horses running in a circle for our benefit. Let's not engage in anthropomorphism over their efforts. I don't believe for a minute that the horses know what's happening to them. When one dies, it's tragic but not on a human level.

Eight Belles paid $10.60 to place, and that's what is important. Meanwhile, Michael Vick is in prison for making dogs fight each other. I suppose, because horse racing is sanctioned by society and we celebrate "Derby Day", the tragedy that we inflict on horses isn't as grand as that which we inflict on dogs. I can't help but think that the wealthy horse owners who run them around on those skinny legs aren't that much different from the dog fighters, except that the dog fights aren't on TV.

After all, the whole reason Barbaro was kept alive for so long after his tragic fall was that his stud service was worth millions of dollars. Otherwise, he would have been euthanized like all the others. My love of animals has nothing to do with how much money I can earn from them.

I refuse to run my cat in a circle for my entertainment - or profit.

What is that under his tail? I think he's trying to hatch one of his catnip toys.