OZONE PARK, N.Y. - Trainer Bill Mott said Emollient, winner of the Ashland Stakes, will skip the Kentucky Oaks and most likely point to the $500,000 Black-Eyed Susan Stakes at Pimlico on May 17.

Emollient had run two races in seven days, finishing a well-beaten fourth behind Dreaming of Julia in the Gulfstream Park Oaks on March 30 before coming back seven days later to win the Ashland at Keeneland by nine.

Asked if the timing – the Oaks would be three races in five weeks for Emollient – was the reason he chose to skip the race, Mott said “that’d be part of it.”

OZONE Park, N.Y. - Trainer Kelly Breen said that Pants On Fire, winner of the 2011 Louisiana Derby, will be pointed to the Grade 3, $150,000 Westchester Stakes on April 27 at Belmont Park.

Pants On Fire won an allowance race at Gulfstream Park two starts back before finishing third in the Skip Away Stakes at 1 3/16 miles last out.

“He’s now cutting back to a one-turn mile at Belmont,” Breen said.

Others pointing to the Westchester include Big Screen, Cross Traffic, and Winslow Homer.

STICKNEY, Ill. - A normal year would have found trainer Greg Geier and his two talented Jim Tafel-bred and -owned 3-year-olds, Fordubai and Street Spice, stabled in New Orleans.

LEXINGTON, Ky. - Trainer Charlie LoPresti has given the thumbs-up for Successful Dan to make a return to action Sunday in the Grade 3 Ben Ali Stakes after the 7-year-old gelding X-rayed clean following a five-furlong workout here at Keeneland on Monday in 1:01.80.

“He’s good to go,” said LoPresti. “We’re cleared for takeoff.”

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Easter Gift has already shown an affinity for the racing surface at Parx Racing. Now, the New York-based 4-year-old colt will try to transfer that form across the state to Penn National.

Easter Gift, winner of a stakes-caliber allowance race at Parx on Tuesday, will most likely make his next start in the $250,000 Mountainview Handicap at Penn National on June 1, trainer Chad Brown said Wednesday.

LEXINGTON, Ky. – Josie Carroll never imagined that nearly two years after Inglorious won the prestigious Queen’s Plate, her stable star would still be looking for her first victory since that unforgettable June day.

“Obviously, you don’t think that way,” Carroll said.

Nonetheless, here is Inglorious looking to snap a seven-race losing streak Friday at Keeneland in the Grade 3 Doubledogdare Stakes, a 1 1/16-mile Polytrack race in which the 5-year-old mare figures as a major contender.

AUBURN, Wash. – While a $12,500 claiming race will serve as the feature race Friday on opening night at Emerald Downs, many of the Northwest’s best runners will start easing back into action as early as next week. Winning Machine, Emerald’s leading handicap horse a year ago, is likely to start in an allowance race April 28 and could be joined by a pair of new rivals, Makors Finale and D’honorable One, both making the difficult jump from age 3 to 4.

Two days prior to the start of Thistledown’s 122-day meet, Ohio’s horsemen have yet to reach an agreement with the track’s owners on purse subsidies from its casino, a situation that will likely lead to a blackout of the track’s signal outside of Ohio.

The Only Key won a $20,000 claiming race on turf at Golden Gate Fields on Jan. 13. Three months later, she starts in Saturday’s $150,000 Santa Barbara Handicap on turf, with an excellent chance to finish in the top three in the Grade 2 race over 1 1/4 miles.

LEXINGTON, Ky. – Live Lively has been declared out of the Kentucky Oaks, clearing a spot on the eligibility list for Pure Fun and pretty much firming up the lineup for the May 3 filly classic at Churchill Downs.

Live Lively, a distant second in the March 30 Gulfstream Park Oaks to Dreaming of Julia, will be pointed instead to the Grade 2 Black-Eyed Susan Stakes on the May 17 Preakness eve card at Pimlico, trainer Mark Hennig said Wednesday via Twitter.