OZONE PARK, N.Y. - West Hills Giant, the runner-up in the Grade 3 Gotham Stakes here on March 2, appears fully recovered from the respiratory infection that forced him to miss a workout a few weeks ago and last Saturday’s $1 million Wood Memorial.

On Monday, West Hills Giant drilled five furlongs in 1:00.47 on the Belmont training track under exercise rider Simon Harris, and later that afternoon was put on a van bound for Lexington, Ky., and Saturday’s Blue Grass Stakes.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. - Bill Mott was back in south Florida late Saturday, but the Hall of Fame trainer certainly had to have Kentucky on his mind after winning two major prep races for the May 3 Kentucky Oaks in a 45-minute span Saturday afternoon.

At Aqueduct, Close Hatches kept her undefeated record intact with a 3 1/4-length victory in the Grade 2 Gazelle. At Keeneland, Emollient, running back one week after losing the Gulfstream Oaks by 30 lengths, romped to a nine-length victory in the Grade 1 Ashland over Keeneland’s Polytrack.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Trainer Marty Wolfson wasn’t nearly as surprised by Swagger Jack winning Saturday’s Grade 1 Carter Handicap at Aqueduct as was the betting public, which sent him off at a generous 15-1.

Swagger Jack had finished second with what Wolfson felt were legitimate excuses in a pair of graded stakes at Gulfstream to Carter candidates Discreet Dancer and Fort Loudon, so he thought it was worth taking a shot in the Carter. He was rewarded when Swagger Jack rallied from fifth and beat Sahara Sky by three-quarters of a length.

LEXINGTON, Ky. - Joel Rosario wasted little time in making it known that he is a serious threat to snap the five-meet streak that Julien Leparoux has amassed as leading jockey here.

Rosario, riding his first full Keeneland meet, had four winners on the nine-race Sunday card to take the early lead atop the jockey standings even after missing Saturday to ride in New York.

Rocco due back after illness

Trainer Charlie LoPresti is calling on Jose Lezcano to ride Wise Dan again when the 2012 Horse of the Year makes his 6-year-old debut Friday in the Grade 1, $300,000 Maker’s 46 Mile.

Lezcano will be filling in again for John Velazquez, who suffered what has been reported as “minor fractures” in a spill Sunday at Aqueduct. Last fall, Lezcano gave Wise Dan a flawless ride here in winning the Grade 1 Shadwell Turf Mile, a race that Velazquez missed because of a scheduling conflict. It was the only time Lezcano has ridden Wise Dan in the gelding’s 20-race career.

LEXINGTON, Ky. – Chad Brown is swapping out Noble Tune in favor of Balance the Books for the Blue Grass Stakes, a move that changes up things in his own stable – but not the bulkiness of the field for the 89th running of the Keeneland showcase Saturday.

Keeneland officials are expecting more than the 14-horse limit when entries are drawn Wednesday at the annual media breakfast for the Grade 1, $750,000 Blue Grass, a situation that likely will necessitate having an also-eligibles list for the 1 1/8-mile Polytrack race.

LEXINGTON, Ky. – Jimmy Baker will send out a long-striding filly named Beijoca on an abbreviated Wednesday program at Keeneland against a promising Irish-bred whose trainer, Bill Mott, “has some pretty good fillies right now,” Baker said Monday in joking understatement.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – The competition doesn’t concern Peter Kazamias as much as the racetrack does when he brings Flying Zealous back to New York for Wednesday’s $62,000 allowance feature at Aqueduct.

Kazamias is the owner, trainer, and breeder of Flying Zealous, who used his speed to win a pair of New York-bred allowance races over the inner track, part of a five-race winning streak the 6-year-old gelding brings into Wednesday’s six-furlong race.

But watching the races unfold on Aqueduct’s main track, Kazamias fears that the surface is favoring off-the-pace types.

OLDSMAR, Fla. – Trainer Jim McCullough spent many seasons racing at the bush tracks of western Canada, and dealing with bottom-level runners during those years taught him to spot the problems and negative aspects of a particular horse.

ARCADIA, Calif. – The 2013 debut of Amazombie has been postponed by a quarter crack, trainer Bill Spawr said Monday at Santa Anita. Winner of the 2011 Breeders’ Cup Sprint and Eclipse Award winner as outstanding sprinter, Amazombie  was expected to make his first start of the season April 27 in the $125,000 Tiznow Stakes at Betfair Hollywood Park.

“I got behind a week, maybe 10 days, and to have him ready to go seven and a half-furlongs, I couldn’t do it,” Spawr said.