OCEANPORT, N.J. – Black Onyx is recuperating in Florida from the injury that knocked him out of the Kentucky Derby on the morning before the race.

The initial prognosis was a chip in his left front ankle that could possibly require surgery. Turns out, it was a hairline fracture that did not require an operation.

The Spiral Stakes winner is now at a farm in Williston, Fla.

“He’s out there for some R & R and we’ll re-X-ray it in six weeks,” trainer Kelly Breen said. “His return depends on Mother Nature. We’re hoping that’s it, and that he’s back in no time.”

OCEANPORT, N.J. – Few $7,500 claims turn into stakes winners. Winiliscious could join that select group Sunday in the $75,000 Monmouth Beach Stakes for fillies and mares at Monmouth Park. She faces five rivals in the one mile, 70 yards race, including the comebacking Cash for Clunkers, as the holiday weekend continues on the Jersey Shore.

The 12-race card starting at 12:50 p.m. Eastern features a second distaff stakes, the $75,000 Miss Liberty on the turf.

VANCOUVER, British Columbia – Pop Artist heads a solid field of older horses in a $25,000 claiming race that will serve as Sunday’s feature at Hastings. The 6 1/2-furlong sprint attracted seven horses but, as usual, Pop Artist is the one to beat.

ELMONT, N.Y. – In lieu of a stakes, the Sunday feature at Belmont Park is a $77,000 first-level allowance race for fillies and mares highlighted by a pair of 3-year-olds from top barns.

Trainer Bill Mott, whose roster of stakes-caliber 3-year-old fillies is deep, sends out Charity Ball, while trainer Kiaran McLaughlin sends out the well-bred Sister State in the field of eight.

ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Something Extra tries to win the $200,000 Connaught Cup Stakes at Woodbine for the second straight year on Sunday, when he will face last year’s Canadian champion turf male Riding the River in the seven-furlong turf sprint.

Something Extra started once during the winter – a closing second in the Gulfstream Park Turf Sprint. In his last race, he lost the Grade 3 Shakertown at Keeneland by a nose after encountering traffic in the stretch under Julien Leparoux.

FORT ERIE, Ontario – Fort Erie, which had been scheduled to close for good last Dec. 31, instead will begin its 116th season Sunday at 1:15 p.m. with 50 racing days, 26 fewer than last year.

The track seemed out of options when the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation removed slot machines from the facility a year ago in April and left both the racetrack and the horsemen without their 10 percent share of net proceeds. But the provincial government came through with an unspecified amount of funding for the racetrack this spring.

ELMONT, N.Y. – Always in a Tiz, ninth in the Grade 1 Wood Memorial in his last start, is being pointed to the $1 million Belmont Stakes here on June 8, part-owner and New York Racing Association board member Anthony Bonomo said Friday.

“Truthfully, I think the horse has the ability to get the distance,” Anthony Bonomo said, referring to the 1 1/2 miles. “He’s not as seasoned as some of those other horses are right now but as far as ability goes he can run and do well in the Belmont.”

ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Up With the Birds, trained by Malcolm Pierce, will be looking to use Sunday’s $150,000 Marine Stakes as his stepping-stone to the $1 million Queen’s Plate.

But the Marine, an open race for 3-year-olds at 1 1/16 miles, has attracted a salty field that includes American-breds Winning Cause, Five Iron, and Ghost Hunter.

“The Plate Trial would have been easier,” said Pierce, noting that the June 9 Plate Trial is restricted to Canadian-breds.

“But we’re not looking for ‘easy,’ we’re looking for the right timing.”

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Trainer Charlie LoPresti said he is seriously considering the Grade 2 Firecracker Handicap on the final weekend of the Churchill Downs spring meet as the next race for Wise Dan, the 2012 Horse of the Year who is unbeaten in two starts this year.

The $150,000 Firecracker, scheduled for a mile on turf, is set for June 29.

MIAMI – The local sprint division, which is already loaded with the likes of Trinniberg, Jackson Bend, and Bahamian Squall on the scene, could get even stronger if things continue to progress well with the fragile but extremely talented Trickmeister, who has been in training at Calder with Allan Hunter since early April.