ANDERSON, Ind. - Hoosier Park continues to enjoy gains in the sale of its simulcast signal and posted a record last Friday, when $2,148,922 was wagered off track. With ontrack wagering of $58,699, the combined total of $2,207,621 represented a record for a single night's card.

Hoosier's combined average nightly handle of $1,411,203 is up from last year, when the track finished the season with an average combined handle of $1,220,255 per night. Ontrack business is slightly off at $57,435 this year, compared to its final average of $62,692 a year ago.

The financial troubles of the Nebraska State Fair were eased somewhat last week when donations from the private sector helped raise the more than $400,000 needed to meet operating expenses by a mid-November deadline.

The Nebraska State Fair Board, which oversees all operations on the state fair grounds property, had given the fair a deadline to either raise the money or present a plan to cease operations at the facility. The State Fair still carries a debt of more than $1.1 million and is working on a long-term financial plan.

ALBANY, Calif. - New faces spice Friday's third race at Golden Gate Fields, a 4 1/2-furlong turf race for fillies and mares with a $32,000 claiming tag.

Chapilkim, Complete Approval, and Our Mango met in a five-furlong turf sprint at Bay Meadows Oct. 29.

What makes Friday's race a little different is the presence of Ippodamia, Mariquita's Secret, and Funny Bone.

Ippodamia makes her turf debut. She beat Exclusive Molly, who is also in this field, in a $32,000 claiming race Sept. 1. That was her first start for trainer Dan Markle, who claimed her for $20,000.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. - With Delaware Park and The Meadowlands closed and Gulfstream Park still six weeks from opening, trainer Allen Iwinski can concentrate on New York for the time being.

Thus far, Iwinski has done quite well at Aqueduct, winning with four of his first eight starters and finishing in the money with two other runners. Thursday, Iwinski will saddle two more runners, including Catessa in a $47,000 entry-level allowance race for fillies and mares 3-and-up at six furlongs.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Mexican Moonlight stands out in Thursday's $54,900 allowance feature at Churchill Downs - literally. Measuring 17 hands in height, Mexican Moonlight is an uncommonly large 3-year-old filly. Now that she has begun to grow into her massive frame, more than her height is drawing attention.

ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Handicappers will be in a quandary trying to determine which front-runner is best in Thursday's speed-laden feature, a second-level allowance worth $65,600.

Honey Green could be a stalking winner in the six-furlong sprint, even though she won her last race, a seven-furlong race for $80,000 claimers, on the lead. She displayed the ability to sit off the early pace when she captured a 1 1/16-mile turf race Sept. 11.

INGLEWOOD, Calif. - Horseplayers have two choices in the seventh-race feature Thursday at Hollywood Park.

They can bet on a rock-solid favorite who won her debut in blazing time while geared down. Or they can wager against a vulnerable favorite who has never raced at Hollywood, never faced winners, and whose debut win was accomplished with a perfect trip over suspect opposition on a souped-up track.

Hope Rises fits both descriptions.

Six fillies and mares entered the one-other-than sprint, and following a demonstrative debut, Hope Rises will be justifiably favored.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. - Owner Mark Hopkins stood in the Laurel Park winner's circle Saturday after A Huevo's victory in the Grade 1 Frank J. De Francis Memorial Dash, enjoying the present and contemplating the future. But he knew there was a chance that this 7-year-old gelding's past could come back to haunt him.

"Frankly, if he never runs another race, if he's back in the barn and has a problem, he's done everything we could possibly have asked," Hopkins said Saturday. "This is like a dream."

Two former mutuel tellers for the New York Racing Association pleaded guilty on Monday to charges of helping bettors avoid taxes on their winnings.

The two tellers, James Boggiano and John Weisener, had been named in a 406-count indictment brought by New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer. Monday, Boggiano pleaded guilty to 12 counts of forgery, a felony, and Weisener pleaded guilty to five counts of offering a false instrument for filing, a misdemeanor. Sentencing has been scheduled for Jan. 12.

The Arizona Racing Commission on Monday unanimously agreed to renew the license of Turf Paradise for the next three years, ending a long review of the track's principal owner, Jerry Simms.

The commission approved the renewal on the recommendation of the Arizona Department of Racing, which had conducted a seven-month investigation of Simms.

Simms said he was happy to put the process behind him, calling the background investigation, "the most extensive review that's ever been done in Arizona."