Churchill Downs officials in Louisville, Ky., have announced they are adjusting for slumping handle at its current 25-day fall meet by reducing the purses on two graded races and cutting overnight races from its original schedule.

ROSLYN, N.Y. - Hall of Fame jockey John Velazquez, who suffered internal injuries in a spill during the running of the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies on Nov. 2 at Santa Anita, said Wednesday he definitely plans to ride again, but said there is no timetable for his return.

“There’s no doubt I’m coming back. I just don’t know when,” Velazquez said Wednesday. “I definitely will have full recovery from this. It’s just going to take a little time.”

Dan’s Gold, Ecoach, and Frisky Warrior – all of whom won at least five races during the current meet – are the finalists for horse of the year at Finger Lakes. The winner will be announced at Saturday’s dinner of the local Horsemen’s Benevolent and Protective Association, along with the top performers in various categories.

Dan’s Gold, a 4-year-old gelding trained by Sal Iorio, earned five wins this season, all in allowance company. He was also third in a pair of sprint stakes.

Wayne Sanders jokes that he tried to discourage Larry Hirsch from getting into the roller-coaster ride that can be racehorse ownership. But Hirsch decided to invest anyway, and over the past 14 years the men have formed one of the most successful ownership partnerships based in the Southwest.

NEW ORLEANS – Thank goodness for the slots and video poker. The casino gaming operations in Fair Grounds’s business portfolio continue to prop up a racing purse structure that would be in significant decline if it relied on betting handle alone.

Voters in the Boston-area town of Milford, Mass., on Tuesday overwhelmingly rejected a proposal to build a casino in their town, despite promises from the casino developer to contribute millions of dollars annually to the town’s budget.

Illinois racetracks and horsemen’s groups reached an agreement Tuesday night that, if approved by the Illinois legislature before the end of January, would adequately fund the Illinois Racing Board and avert a catastrophic reduction of racing dates in 2014.

A lawsuit brought by the attorney general of New York alleging that the Thoroughbred Retirement Foundation, one of the largest caretakers of retired Thoroughbreds in the racing industry, mistreated animals in its herd has been settled, both sides said Tuesday in separate releases that differed markedly in tone.

NEW ORLEANS – The rolling eight-foot-high metal gate on the Mystery Street entrance still was broken as of Tuesday morning, open wide enough only for foot and bicycle traffic to pass into and out of the racetrack. On the backstretch, new sections of fencing have been erected at the gap by the clocker’s stand at the half-mile pole to keep runaway horses from rushing off the track during morning training here.

Canterbury Park will hold a 69-day Thoroughbred and Quarter Horse race meet in 2014, the same number of race days as this year, after receiving approval from the Minnesota Racing Commission on Monday.

The meet will run from May 16 through Sept. 13. Next year’s stakes schedule and purse structure will be announced in December.