Off the wire

LITTLE ROCK — FOOTBALL Hillis practices

Cleveland Browns running back Peyton Hillis (Conway, Arkansas Razorbacks) returned to practice on Wednesday. Hillis, who missed last week’s game against Seattle with a strained hamstring, practiced Wednesday for the first time since getting hurt in Cleveland’s Oct. 16loss at Oakland. Since then, Browns P resident Mike Holmgren has said negotiations with Hillis on a contract extension have been put on hold. Browns Coach Pat Shurmur said Hillis will start this week at San Francisco if he’s healthy. Shurmurfeels Hillis can put past distractions behind him and still have a productive season. On Sunday, Montario Hardesty started for Hillis and ran for 95 yards on 33 carries, an amount Hillis would like to get. Hillis also missed Cleveland’s Sept. 25 game against Miami with strep throat on the advice of his agent.

Detroit Lions quarterback Matthew Stafford was able to practice Wednesday on his injured right ankle, although backup Shaun Hill took some snaps with the first team. Stafford was hurt toward the end of Sunday’s 23-16 loss to the Atlanta Falcons. Coach Jim Schwartz said Monday he was day-to-day as the team began preparing for next weekend’s game at Denver. Schwartz didn’t say anything definitive on Stafford’s status Wednesday.

San Diego Chargers outside linebacker Larry English was placed on season-ending injured reserve Wednesday with a broken left foot. It’s the latest setback for English, who hasn’t lived up to being the team’s 2009 first-round draft pick. He had surgery on the same foot last year. To take his spot on the active roster, the Chargers signed tackle Stephen Schilling from the practice squad. The team also re-signed running back Jordan Todman to the practice squad. English had two sacks in five games this year, both against the Miami Dolphins. He was inactive for the opener. English had seven sacks total in 29 games in three seasons.

BASEBALL Hoyer joins Cubs

The San Diego Padres announced Wednesday night that Jed Hoyer and Jason McLeod are leaving the team to accept positions in the Chicago Cubs front office. The Cubs have agreed to send the Padres a player to be named as compensation. Both teams say they will hold news conferences after the World Series. The Padres will announce Josh Byrnes as Hoyer’s successor as general manager. The Cubs will announce Hoyer as GM and McLeodas senior vice president of scouting and player development at a date to be determined. The deals have been in the works since Theo Epstein left his job as Boston Red Sox GM and was hired by the Cubs as president of baseball operations.

BASKETBALL NBA sides meet

NBA owners and players resumed talks aimed at ending the lockout Wednesday in New York, less than a week after three intense days of mediation didn’t produce a new labor deal. The sides got back to the table with a small group meeting and met for more than seven hours. Talks broke down last Thursday when players said owners insisted they agree to a 50-50 split of revenues as a condition to further discuss the salary cap system. The first two weeks of the season already have been canceled, and there’s little time left to save any basketball in November. Commissioner David Stern has said he feared even games through Christmas would be in jeopardy if there wasn’t a deal last week. Stern rejoined the talks Wednesday after missing last Thursday’s session with the flu. He was joined by Deputy Commissioner Adam Silver, owners Peter Holt of San Antonio, Glen Taylor of Minnesota and James Dolan of New York, and two league office attorneys. The union was represented by executive director Billy Hunter, president Derek Fisher (Little Rock Parkview, UALR) of the Los Angeles Lakers and vice president Maurice Evans of the Washington Wizards, attorney Ron Klempner and economist Kevin Murphy. The players have lowered their proposal to 52.5 percent of basketball-related income, leaving the sides about $100 million apart annually, based on last season’s revenues. Players were guaranteed 57 percent of BRI under the previous collective bargaining agreement. The system is the other chief hurdle. Seeking greater parity among their 30 teams, owners are looking to reduce the ways that teams can exceed the salary cap so that big markets won’t have a significant payroll advantage. They have proposed raising the taxes the highest spenders would pay, but players fear the penalties would be so punitive they would act like a hard salary cap. The sides also are struggling over items such as the length of the deal, players’ contract lengths and the size of their raises. Silver said last week it was “unclear” to him whether an 82-game schedule was still possible. The league could try to reschedule the lost games if a deal can be reached soon.

The Toronto Raptors have hired Ed Stefanski as executive vice president of basketball operations. Stefanski was hired Wednesday. He will report to Raptors President and General Manager Bryan Colangelo. Stefanski was fired last week as general manager of the Philadelphia 76ers.

HORSE RACING Havre de Grace in Breeders’ Cup

Havre de Grace is going where Zenyatta once did, taking on the boys in the $5 million Breeders’ Cup Classic. The 4-year-old filly is 5-of-6 this year and a victory could burnish her credentials for Horse of the Year, although Uncle Mo and Flat Out loom as major threats.

A record total of 193 horses, including 29 from overseas, were pre-entered Wednesday for the $26 million, 15-race Breeders’ Cup world championships at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Ky., on Nov. 4-5. That tops last year’s total of 184.

Todd Pletcher leads all trainers with 15 horses pre-entered, followed by Irishman Aidan O’Brien with 14 and Hall of Famer Bob Baffert with 11.

Havre de Grace was pre-entered in the 1 1/4-mile Classic, along with 13 others, including Uncle Mo, Travers winner Stay Thirsty, Jockey Club Gold Cup winner Flat Out, Santa Anita Handicap winner Game On Dude, European star So You Think, Belmont Stakes winner Ruler on Ice and 2010 Belmont winner Drosselmeyer.

Other pre-entries in the Classic are Await the Dawn, Headache, Prayer for Relief, Rattlesnake Bridge and To Honor and Serve.

Havre de Grace’s owner Rick Porter also entered his filly in the $2 million Ladies’ Classic as an insurance policy.

“The only reason we wouldn’t run in the Classic is if we drew the 1 hole or if we saw a complete difference in the weather on Friday and Saturday,” he said on a conference call.

Final entries and the post-position draw will be Monday.

The two-day event will open Nov. 4 with a new race, the Juvenile Sprint for 2-year-olds at six furlongs.