Heavy rain has again wreaked havoc on the Northeast racing calendar with both Aqueduct and the Meadowlands canceling their Friday programs. The Meadowlands, which is conducting an all-turf meet, has also canceled Saturday night’s program.

At Aqueduct, Friday’s 11-race program was canceled after 2.88 inches of rain fell in the New York metropolitan area overnight and more was expected throughout the day, and there is a flash flood warning for Ozone Park, according to the New York Racing Association.

Frank Nickens, who has reached a purchase agreement to buy Turf Paradise in Phoenix, is a 57-year-old businessman with construction and mining interests in Arizona but no experience in racing, other than a lifelong friendship with a Quarter Horse trainer in Louisiana.

While he doesn’t have experience running a racetrack, he has one thing he says that will make his project to revive Turf Paradise a success: a long track record of “doing the right thing the right way,” he said in an interview with Daily Racing Form on Thursday afternoon.

Bob Baffert, the Hall of Fame trainer, has filed a lawsuit alleging defamation and extortion against two New Jersey residents based on posts the pair have made on the social-media website X, formerly known as Twitter.

The suit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California on Wednesday, accuses Justin Wunderler and Daniel DiCorcia of “an escalating pattern of outrageous behavior” against Baffert that is “specifically intended to accrue more followers and personal monetary gain.”

Turf Paradise in Phoenix, Ariz., will race in 2024, the track said in a brief statement issued late on Wednesday night, and the state’s horsemen’s group has extended a contract with the track that will allow simulcasting to continue until Nov. 12.

The statement did not provide details other than to say “additional information will be forthcoming” about the live meet. The Arizona Department of Racing is scheduled to hold a meeting at 1 p.m. Eastern in which issues affecting Turf Paradise are expected to be discussed at length.

Will Alempijevic, the executive director of the New York Thoroughbred Horsemen’s Association since early 2020, has resigned his position, according to officials at the organization.

Alempijevic, a former racing executive in New York, resigned several weeks ago, and his last day in the position was Sunday, according to Joe Appelbaum, the president of the NYTHA. Appelbaum declined to comment on the reason for the resignation.

“All is well, there are no issues,” Appelbaum said.

Nevada Litfin, who was near the top of the trainer standings at the recently completed meet at Canterbury Park in Minnesota, has been handed a five-month suspension for rule violations including the possession of a hypodermic syringe, according to a ruling from the Horseracing Integrity and Welfare Unit.

Nobody Listens, the winner of Saturday’s Grade 3 Turf Monster Stakes at Parx, died in a freak accident in his horse trailer Sunday, his connections said.

According to trainer Tim Eggleston, Nobody Listens got spooked by a loud braking sound made from a semi-truck near his horse trailer on a highway in the vicinity of Columbus, Ohio. Nobody Listens slipped in his boxed stall and hit something that caused him to sever an artery, Eggleston said.

The horse was vanning back to Horseshoe Indianapolis where he is based.

The connections of Pennsylvania Derby winner Saudi Crown will have a lot to think about in the coming weeks - whether to run in the Breeders’ Cup, which Breeders’ Cup race to target if they choose to do that, or simply set a path to the $20 million Saudi Cup in February.

Saudi Crown came out of his front-running, half-length victory in the Grade 1, $1 million Pennsylvania Derby in good order, trainer Brad Cox said, and the horse was expected to arrive back at Churchill Downs on Sunday night.

ARCADIA, Calif. - Tamara, the undefeated leader of the 2-year-old filly division, will have her next start in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies at Santa Anita on Nov. 3, trainer Richard Mandella said on Sunday.

Tamara won the Grade 1 Del Mar Debutante at seven furlongs at Del Mar on Sept. 10 in her stakes debut, pulling away by a convincing 6 3/4 lengths. Mandella said a week after the race that Tamara was a candidate for the Grade 2 Chandelier Stakes at 1 1/16 miles at Santa Anita on Oct. 7, but has since changed his mind.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. - The connections of Dubai World Cup runner-up Algiers will be on “a fact-finding mission” when they run their 6-year-old in Saturday’s Grade 2, $400,000 Woodward Stakes at Aqueduct.

Algiers, trained by Simon Crisford, is coming to Aqueduct to see if he handles the U.S. dirt tracks as well as he handled Meydan in Dubai, where he won two rounds of the Maktoum Challenge before his runner-up finish to Japan’s Ushba Tesoro in the World Cup.