The best sprinters on the grounds and some scary shippers will meet in a competitive renewal of the $75,000 Phoenix Gold Cup at Turf Paradise on Saturday. A six-furlong race, the Phoenix Gold Cup is the marquee event of the meet and has lured a full field of 14.

The Phoenix Gold Cup is part of a stakes triple-header that also includes the $40,000 Cactus Cup Handicap - rescheduled from last Sunday after bad weather caused the card to be canceled - and the $40,000 Sun City Handicap. The Gold Cup goes as race 8 on a nine-race card.

ALBANY, Calif. - Interspersed between bottom-level races are three interesting matchups on Saturday's Golden Gate Fields card.

The nominal feature is a $50,000 optional claimer for fillies and mares listed at 1 1/16 miles on the turf. Wet weather, however, has kept races off the turf lately so handicappers must prepare for the possibility of a surface switch to the main track.

Trainer Jerry Hollendorfer's entry of Lady Champagne and Sky Dreams comes in with both runners looking for repeat victories.

OLDSMAR Fla. - The Tampa Bay Derby, the highlight of Saturday's Festival Day card at Tampa Bay Downs, is supported by a trio of solid races, topped by the $200,000 Florida Oaks for 3-year-old fillies at 1 1/16 miles. The 13-race card also includes the Grade 3, $150,000 Hillsborough Stakes for older fillies and mares at 1 1/8 miles on the turf and the $75,000 Turf Dash at five furlongs.

ARCADIA, Calif. - In addition to sending out Racketeer in the San Felipe Stakes, trainer Bobby Frankel will try to win the two supporting stakes on Saturday at Santa Anita. He has the well-regarded To Sender in the Pasadena Stakes for 3-year-olds and Chilean import Wild Storm in the Flower Girl Handicap for older fillies and mares. Both the Pasadena, at one mile, and the Flower Girl, at 6 1/2 furlongs, are scheduled for the turf course and carry purses of $80,000-added.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. - Though Celestial Legend successfully stretched out to one mile in her last start, her connections have decided to focus on shorter races for now.

"I think that she can go long," said Matyland-based Dale Capuano, who trains Celestial Legend for David Menard. "I think she's better sprinting."

Thus, Celestial Legend's first foray into graded stakes company comes Saturday, when she ships to New York to run in the Grade 3, $100,000 Cicada Stakes at Aqueduct. The Cicada is run at six furlongs over the inner track.

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - The queen of the local filly and mare sprint division in south Florida this winter, Smokey Glacken, is safely back in New York, which leaves Saturday's $200,000 Shirley Jones Handicap at Gulfstream Park up for grabs. As a result, the Grade 2 race at seven furlongs has drawn a field of 11 older fillies and mares, led by Grade 1 winners In the Gold and Splendid Blended, along with the unbeaten and still untested .

HOT SPRINGS, Ark. - Private Vow showed as much ability as any 2-year-old last year when he won Grade 2 races around both one turn and two: the Futurity at Belmont Park and the Kentucky Jockey Club at Churchill Downs.

He is ranked highly among the prospects for this year's Kentucky Derby, and on Saturday he will make his long-awaited seasonal debut in the Grade 3, $300,000 Rebel Stakes at Oaklawn Park.

Your Bluffing may be a durable and versatile horse, winning his last five starts at distances ranging from six furlongs to 1 1/8 miles and sporting a 14-for-33 lifetime record. Running twice on the same card, however, would be too much to ask.

Saturday at Laurel Park, trainer Mike Trombetta had to choose between the $85,000 Harrison Johnson Memorial Handicap, where Your Bluffing would concede 10 to 13 pounds while running 1 1/8 miles, and the $60,000 Northern Wolf, where his horse would face a tough group of sprinters going seven furlongs.

STICKNEY, Ill. - There were 159 workouts recorded last Saturday morning at Hawthorne Race Course, a total that didn't square with the low number of entries on recent programs. But more attractive fields are back for Saturday's National Jockey Club card, with 90 horses entered in nine races, a big jump over the field sizes last week.

Dreamsandvisions finished just two lengths behind Grade 2 winner Beau's Town in a stakes last time out, which makes him a standout Saturday night when he returns to the Texas-bred ranks for the $40,000 Spring Stakes at Sam Houston Race Park in Houston.

The seven-furlong race drew a field of 11, among them stakes winners Charming Socialite and Nuttyboom, the runner-up in last year's Spring Stakes.