Etc . . .

Ronald Ardoin, the all-time leading rider at Louisiana Downs, took off his mounts Friday because of a strained calf muscle in his right leg. He sustained the injury in a gate accident on Sept. 22; he hopes to return to riding on Thursday. . . . A $45,000 colt by Dr. Adagio topped the yearling portion of the Canadian Breeders Sales fall mixed sale at Woodbine Monday. The 184 yearlings sold averaged $9,435, a decline of 26 percent from the 2000 sale. . . . Prince Ahmed Salman's Thoroughbred Corp. has announced that it will donate 10 percent of any purse monies earned by its horses in the World Thoroughbred Championships to NTRA Charities' New York Heroes Fund. . . . Three Standardbred owners, Sanford Goldfarb, Eric Cherry, and Steven Goldberg, have reached an agreement to buy Vernon Downs, the struggling harness track in upstate New York, for $9 million.