Winter trickles along, decent racing weekends here and there, then suddenly it’s March. Derby preps pop up weekly. Keeneland right around the corner, just behind it, Churchill Downs, the Triple Crown. Buckle up.

Tampa Bay Derby

Were Horse of the Year Thorpedo Anna not making her comeback at Oaklawn, Tampa Bay would attract all the eyes Saturday. Every stakes on their card holds appeal, an excellent program culminating in the meet’s most important race.

HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – There’s a grizzly bear coming out of hibernation on Saturday in the Grade 2, $400,000 Azeri at Oaklawn Park. Her name is Thorpedo Anna.

The reigning Horse of the Year will launch her 4-year-old season in the 1 1/16-mile race.

Thorpedo Anna picked up the nickname The Grizzly after a comment trainer Kenny McPeek made a few weeks after she launched her 3-year-old season with a win in last year’s Grade 2 Fantasy at Oaklawn.

ARCADIA, Calif. – A leaderless female division in California can crown a queen on Saturday at Santa Anita, though her reign may be short. The winner of the Grade 1 B. Wayne Hughes Beholder Mile might be an out-of-state traveler with a round-trip ticket.

One week after shippers plundered the Grade 1 Santa Anita Handicap – Locked and Hit Show finished first and third – two filly-mare shippers aim for a similar result in the Beholder Mile. Tarifa, from Florida, and Hoosier Philly, from Louisiana, arrived this week to face an unassuming cast of locals in the $300,000 Beholder Mile.

The Maryland-bred Speedyness will have the chance to win his second straight stakes race in the $75,000 Not For Love Stakes at Laurel Park on Saturday. Anyone who beats the aptly named front-runner will likely have to chase him down.

The 4-year-old gelding by Great Notion is coming off a commanding wire-to-wire victory in the 1 1/8-mile John B. Campbell against open company. Though he’s cutting back to six furlongs in the state-restricted Not For Love, his triumph last time out and strong form last year make him the horse to beat.

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Trainers Bill Mott, Saffie Joseph Jr., and Ian Wilkes sent out the first-, third-, and fourth-place finishers, respectively, here one week ago in the Grade 2 Fountain of Youth. The same trio will be back to do battle once again Saturday at Gulfstream Park, saddling the top three choices, Nic’s Style, Spirit Wind, and Into Champagne, in the $165,000 Hurricane Bertie Stakes.

OLDSMAR, Fla. – Over the last year, trainer Graham Motion has received an influx of South African-based runners in his stable. Perhaps the most exciting of the group is Gimme a Nother, who brings a 7-for-7 record into her North American debut in Saturday’s Grade 2, $225,000 Hillsborough Stakes at Tampa Bay Downs.

OLDSMAR, Fla. – Skippylongstocking seeks a third consecutive victory in the Challenger Stakes Saturday at Tampa Bay Downs. Only this year, he comes into the 1 1/16-mile race under different circumstances that strengthen his case as the horse to beat.

ARCADIA, Calif. – A solid cast of turf sprinters is entered in the Grade 3 San Simeon Stakes on Saturday at Santa Anita, and the only reason to be skeptical of the favorite is the San Simeon rarely is won by a favorite.

OLDSMAR, Fla. – While some may be hoping to use Saturday’s Grade 3, $400,000 Tampa Bay Derby as a stepping-stone to the May 3 Kentucky Derby, trainer Brian Lynch is using the 1 1/16-mile race to get Owen Almighty to a different event at Churchill Downs on the first Saturday in May.

Lynch feels the Tampa Bay Derby is a good prep to get Owen Almighty to the Pat Day Mile, a one-turn-mile race at Churchill on the Kentucky Derby undercard. The Tampa Bay Derby gives him eight weeks to the Pat Day Mile whereas a race like the Lafayette at Keeneland on April 4 would give him only four.