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.

Flashback, who finished second to Goldencents in the Santa Anita Derby on Saturday, was found on Sunday afternoon to have a small chip in his right knee, trainer Bob Baffert said Sunday night. He is off the Kentucky Derby trail, but is expected to make a full recovery after having surgery in Kentucky with Dr. Larry Bramlage.

"There was heat in his right knee and we took X-rays and had them sent to Bramlage," Baffert said Sunday night. "He's got a chip. It's small. It's fresh. When you take it out right away they can make a full recovery."

MANHASSET, N.Y. - Hall of Fame jockey John Velazquez fractured a rib on his right side and chipped a bone in his right wrist as a result of being involved in a spill Sunday at Aqueduct.

 While Velazquez will not be able to ride Horse of the Year Wise Dan in his seasonal debut in Friday’s Maker’s 46 Mile at Keeneland, Velazquez said he hopes to be back in time to ride the Kentucky Derby.

[ROAD TO THE KENTUCKY DERBY: Prep races, point standings, replays]

Luscious Lonna, a $6,250 claim in March 2012, became trainer Nick Sloan's first stakes winner as she wired a field of 11 fillies and mares, including four from trainer Jerry Hollendorfer's barn, in the $61,350 Golden Poppy at Golden Gate Fields on Sunday.

"This is the first horse I've ever had run above the claiming level," said Sloan of the first stakes entrant in his career.

Luscious Lonna ($26.80) had 4 wins and a pair of seconds in her past 6 starts against claiming and allowance company heading into the race.

HOT SPRINGS, Ark.- Devil and a Half gave his jockey, Alex Canchari, the first stakes win of his career Sunday at Oaklawn Park, when he successfully defended his title in the $60,000 Arkansas Breeders’ Stakes. Devil and a Half won by six lengths over favorite Humble Smarty, while it was another length back in third to Presidential Colors.

The win was one of three on the card for trainer Mac Robertson. 

ARCADIA, Calif. - I Dazzle won her first stakes, and gave trainer John Sadler a sweep of the first three positions, in Sunday’s $76,500 American Beauty Stakes for fillies and mares on turf at Santa Anita.

I Dazzle ($11.40) ran a mile in 1:33.42, outrunning the English import Moone’s My Name by a neck. Byrony was third.

In the Stars, the 1-2 favorite, was well-placed until early stretch but faded in the final furlong to finish five lengths behind I Dazzle. Little Emily finished last in the field of five.