Sam Houston Race Park in Houston has canceled its upcoming 65-date Thoroughbred meet because of damages Hurricane Ike inflicted on the track when it made landfall in nearby Galveston, Texas, on Sept. 12. A plan to add 43 of the lost dates to the current meet at Retama Park near San Antonio was passed by the Texas Thoroughbred Horsemen's Benevolent and Protective Association in a 5-3 conference call vote on Monday. The meet at Retama would continue through February. The plan will now need approval from the Texas Racing Commission.

Jockey Salvador Perez, who was thrown when his mount fell past the wire in a Quarter Horse race at Lone Star Park last Thursday night, is paralyzed from the chest down, according to friends who visited him over the weekend at Methodist Dallas Medical Center.

Perez, 30, was scheduled to undergo surgery on Monday, said Jack Palmer, his valet the last two years. The goal is to correct some damage done to his spine, according to Bill Pettit, the stall superintendent at Lone Star.

"He can move his arms some," said Pettit. "He's in remarkably good spirits."

Louisiana Downs in Bossier City, La., closed out its 85-date meet on Saturday with a 2.5 percent increase in average daily handle on its races from all sources. Officials reported gains in handle both ontrack and offtrack compared with the corresponding 91-date meet in 2007.

Beulah Park canceled its Tuesday live racing card but planned to resume racing on Wednesday with drastically reduced purses, the general manager of the track said on Monday.

The Tuesday cancellation was the third card to be called off since Beulah opened on May 14. Track officials have canceled the cards because of an ongoing dispute with horsemen over simulcast approvals.

LEXINGTON, Ky. - Jerry Carroll said he would not have played the pick six last Friday at Keeneland if he had not noticed Thursday evening that 4 of 6 was good enough on that day's pick six.

"I had it twice Thursday," for $1,270 each, said Carroll. "So I decided I'd put it all back in on Friday."

It was another fortuitous decision for someone long known for his Midas touch. Carroll was the only winner the following day in a pick six that returned $237,019.60.

ALBANY, Calif. - Last Saturday's canceled stakes race left some bruised feelings but could result in a new approach to stakes at Golden Gate Fields.

The track canceled the $50,000 Albany on Sunday because there would have been only four betting interests. The Albany, a six-furlong sprint, was carded as an overnight stakes, which can be canceled in the event of a short field - unlike regular stakes, which are required to be run no matter how many horses are entered.

Facing a horrible economy and a potential disruption to account wagering, Hollywood Park will begin its fall meeting with an overnight purse structure approximately 7 percent lower than the 2007 fall meeting.

The condition book, detailing the likely races for the first two weeks of the meeting from Oct. 29 to Nov. 9, was published last week. The cuts vary from $1,000 for low-quality races to $4,000 for some allowance races.

ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Tell It As It Is recorded the biggest win of her career and provided a new career highlight for her trainer, Jim Smith, when scoring by a nose here in Sunday's $180,350 Maple Leaf Stakes.

Making her 14th career start Sunday for owner Richard Lister, Tell It As It Is had become a stakes winner in the $104,000 Tattling, an overnight stakes over 1 1/16 miles of yielding turf here June 18. She underlined her versatility in the Maple Leaf.

Minnetonka Mist had to work harder than expected to validate his 1-5 favoritism in the $81,478 colt-and-gelding division of the ATBA Sales Stakes at Turf Paradise on Saturday, while Bella Cardona posted a mild upset in the $91,625 filly division.

Ridden by Juan Rivera, Minnetonka Mist posted a front-running, three-quarter-length score, covering the six furlongs in 1:09.25. Hidden Bounty and Albacore Bob finished noses apart for second and third, respectively, in the field of 10 2-year-old males.

ARCADIA, Calif. - Backbackbackgone is as good in the autumn as he was in the spring.

Making his first start in nearly five months, Backbackbackgone held off a late rally from Charlie’s Moment to win Saturday’s $80,100 Jack Goodman Stakes at Santa Anita. Backbackbackgone ($6) ran six furlongs in 1:08.85.