Highly Wicked, a winner of five turf stakes in her last five starts, was scratched from the Louisiana Cup Distaff at Louisiana Downs because the race came off the grass and is now being freshened, trainer Sam David Jr. said.

“That’s the only problem with a turf horse, you’ve got to find your spots and then hope it doesn’t rain,” quipped David.

Highly Wicked is 9 for 9 on the turf. She is a homebred for Earl Hernandez, Keith Hernandez and John Duvieilh. Overall, Highly Wicked has won 10 of 19 starts. The Louisiana-bred daughter of Wicked Strong has earned $386,430.

Usually Wrong, who emerged as the top turf sprinter of the recent meet at Lone Star Park, is scheduled to make his next start in the new $250,000 Great West Stakes at Remington Park, said trainer Robertino Diodoro.

The five-furlong turf race will share a card with the Oklahoma Derby on Sept. 28. It was designed to serve as a potential prep for the Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint this fall at Del Mar.

Take Charge Tom arrived Saturday at Remington Park for an intended start in the Grade 3, $400,000 Oklahoma Derby on Sept. 28, according to his trainer, Robertino Diodoro.

Take Charge Tom is a five-time stakes winner who is coming off a victory in the Grade 3 Canadian Derby at Century Mile. The race was run over 1 1/4 miles and he will be backing up in distance to 1 1/8 miles for the Oklahoma Derby.

“The timing of the race is good for him and we’ve had some luck in it before,” Diodoro said. “Broadway Empire won the Canadian Derby and won the Oklahoma Derby.”

Albin Jimenez, the jockey suspended for one year by stewards in Ohio in late August based on a second-place finish in a race at Belterra Park, has filed an appeal of the ruling and been granted a stay, according to officials involved in the case. 

Jimenez, who was the leading rider at Belterra when the suspension was issued, is named on one horse at Horseshoe Indianapolis in Shelbyville, Indiana, in Friday’s sixth race. Jimenez has not ridden since Aug. 22, one day after the race that was cited by stewards for the one-year suspension. 

New York-based trainer Ray Handal began serving a 22-day suspension on Thursday for three violations of rules pertaining to the use of the corticosteroid dexamethasone, a regulated painkilling medication, according to records posted by the Horseracing Integrity and Welfare Unit. 

Handal, who has 13 wins from 127 starts this year, was also fined $3,500, according to HIWU. The horses that tested positive were disqualified from their races. 

The 2-year-old Outfielder is back in America after a decent fourth-place finish in the Group 1 Prix Morny on Aug. 24 at Deauville Racecourse. 

His trainer, Wesley Ward, had won the Morny three times, but said, with good evidence behind him, that this year’s renewal came up much tougher than the years when Campanelle, Lady Aurelia, and No Nay Never won. Outfielder, making just his second start following a May 23 Churchill Downs turf-sprint maiden romp, broke a half-step slow in the straight-course, six-furlong Morny and was beaten 2 3/4 lengths.

A handful of riders unaffiliated with The Jockeys’ Guild have begun accepting mounts at Remington Park in Oklahoma, allowing the track to plan on holding a scratch-marred nine-race card Thursday night despite the lack of an agreement between the Guild and local horsemen on mount fees.

Five riders have been named on horses throughout the card, with field sizes ranging from five to two horses. More than half the horses originally entered for the card have been scratched.

Gary Hartunian, the Southern California horse owner and real estate developer, has signed a two-year lease for the operation of Turf Paradise in Phoenix, according to an official involved in the process.

Tom Ludt, a seasoned racetrack executive who Hartunian has tabbed to run the track, said on Wednesday that the deal was signed last week. The group does not expect to take over formal operation of the track until late this year, after the licensing process is completed. In Arizona, licensing generally takes 90 days or more.

The unbeaten filly Silent Rule, who was considered a leading candidate for Ohio-bred championship honors heading into the state’s fall stakes, has been taken out of training and could be sold at auction in Kentucky this November.  

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - Coming off an impressive victory in Saturday’s Grade 2 Flower Bowl Stakes at Saratoga, Bellezza “will be heavily considered” for the $2 million Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf at Del Mar on Nov. 1, trainer Miguel Clement said Sunday morning. 

“The horse was very impressive,” Clement said. “The field might have been subpar, but that’s okay, she was visually impressive. She’s a Grade 2 winner, Grade 1-placed, it’s a bit tough not to go for the swing. She’s a 4-year-old, she’s still improving, she’s a very good filly.”