Jon Court started the year riding one of the most exciting Kentucky Derby prospects in Lecomte winner Oxbow. But when Oxbow runs back Saturday in the Rebel Stakes at Oaklawn, Court won’t be aboard. Hall of Fame jockey Mike Smith has been given the mount, and Court will instead be on the horse’s stablemate Will Take Charge.

For most riders, losing a high-profile 3-year-old in the spring is a bitter pill to swallow. For Court, the situation is amplified. He is 52, and there are only so many more Kentucky Derbies left for him to chase.

Bilirrubina will have a Beyer Speed Figure advantage on her rivals Saturday night at Sam Houston Race Park, when she makes her two-turn debut in the $50,000 Spring. The one-mile race for 3-year-old fillies is the final stakes of the Houston meet that closes on Monday.

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - Grade 1 winner Samitar will make her 2013 debut in Saturday’s $150,000 Honey Fox to be decided at a mile on the Gulfstream Park turf.

Samitar has not run since finishing fourth in Keeneland’s Grade 1 Queen Elizabeth II Cup in October. She won Belmont’s Grade 1 Garden City for trainer Chad Brown in her previous start.

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Shivananda Parbhoo went to Dubai for the first time last spring, sending out Giant Ryan to a creditable fifth-place finish in the Golden Shaheen. When he goes back for a second time later this month, Parbhoo will return with even more firepower, the reigning male sprint champion, Trinniberg, who will make his 2013 debut and first start since upsetting the Breeders’ Cup Sprint in the six-furlong Golden Shaheen.

Rose to Gold, who picked off the second Grade 3 win of her career in the Honeybee at Oaklawn last Saturday, could make her next start in the Grade 3, $400,000 Fantasy here April 10, trainer Sal Santoro said. Her ultimate goal remains the Kentucky Oaks.

Rudy Rodriguez, the leading trainer at Aqueduct and the conditioner of undefeated Kentucky Derby contender Vyjack, will begin serving a 20-day suspension Saturday for two medication positives. Rodriguez was also fined $7,500 by the New York State Gaming Commission.

Rodriguez was penalized for the finding of the non-steroidal anti-inflammatory Flunixin, also known as Banamine, in post race samples taken from Heiden, who won the last race at Aqueduct on April 7, 2012, and Alston Gunter, who finished third in the first race at Aqueduct on Nov. 21.

The patient ride Corey Nakatani gave Hear the Ghost in the San Felipe last weekend at Santa Anita reminded everyone yet again that the veteran jockey remains on top of his game. He is off to Oaklawn Park on Saturday for stakes rides in the Azeri and the Rebel, but before that reflected on the San Felipe, in which Hear the Ghost, in contrast to Flashback and Goldencents, relaxed and finished.

HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Lady Diva Ga Ga will get back to the distance of her last two wins Friday at Oaklawn Park, when she starts in the ninth race, a $100,000 optional-claiming sprint for fillies and mares at six furlongs. A field of eight will go, including Ire, the third-place finisher in last month’s Mardi Gras Handicap at Fair Grounds, and Cowgirl N Up, a stakes winner two starts back at Sam Houston.

Wise Dan, the 2012 Horse of the Year, was among the workers over the Polytrack at Keeneland on a busy Tuesday morning for trainer Charlie LoPresti.

Wise Dan had his third breeze since returning from his traditional winter break, going five furlongs in 1:01. The 6-year-old Wise Dan is unraced since winning the Nov. 3 Breeders’ Cup Mile at Santa Anita.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – As his 2-5 morning-line odds suggest, Pinball loomed an imposing presence in Friday’s first race at Aqueduct. However, his absence from the $59,000 optional claimer will make the race a much more intriguing event from a wagering perspective.

Pinball, a dominant winner of his last two starts, will be scratched from the one-mile race because of a quarter crack, according to Bill Mott’s New York-based assistant trainer Leana Willaford, leaving a field of six without a clear-cut choice.