HOT SPRINGS, Ark. - The Racing Festival of the South will shift focus to 3-year-olds this week, with 10 horses expected for the Grade 2, $500,000 Arkansas Derby on Saturday.

The 1 1/8-mile Derby is one of four stakes for 3-year-olds during the Festival. The others are the Grade 2, $200,000 Fantasy for 3-year-old fillies Friday, and the $75,000 Northern Spur and the $75,000 Instant Racing Breeders' Cup, which will both support the Arkansas Derby.

SAN MATEO, Calif. - Jockey Joey Castro opened the Bay Meadows meeting with three wins and a second in four mounts on Wednesday's opening-day card.

On Thursday, he had no mounts. Such is life for a journeyman rider.

"I'm going into my 20th year as a rider. You learn to adapt to situations," he said, shrugging.

STICKNEY, Ill. - Mystery Giver, a close fifth March 23 in the Grade 2 Explosive Bid at Fair Grounds, could expand his distance horizons later this month at Keeneland. Trainer Chris Block said Friday that Mystery Giver might make his next start April 23 in the Grade 3 Elkhorn, a 1 1/2-mile race that would be the longest of Mystery Giver's career.

Grand Island, Neb. - Miss Speed Dial will attempt to stretch her win streak to four when she faces seven others in the filly division of the $25,000-added Fonner Park Special Stakes.

The six-furlong race is for Nebraska-bred 3-year-old fillies.

Miss Speed Dial won her maiden here Feb. 14 and has since won an allowance race and the Pepsi Stakes. Trained by Kelly Von Hemel, Miss Speed Dial once again has to contend with Bevys Affair and Cassa's Affair, whom she faced in the Pepsi. Kelly Murray has the return ride from post 2.

GROVE CITY, Ohio - Heavenly Jet will try to go from a maiden to a stakes winner in less than one month when she faces eight other Ohio-bred 3-year-old fillies in Sunday's $40,000 Royal North Stakes at Beulah Park.

ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Trainer Sid Attard could only watch and wonder as three of his stable stars fell by the wayside last year.

But now Attard can look forward to the return of that powerful trio of Ginger Gold, Numerous Times, and Goldies Legacy, all of whom are at various stages on the road back to the races.

PORTLAND, Ore. - It has always been tough to attract enough competent jockeys to ride at the brief fair meetings held in the Northwest, but the problem reached crisis proportions at the scheduled two-day meeting at Burns, Ore., in 2001.

ARCADIA, Calif. - Gary Stevens may not own the Santa Anita Derby. But he's got squatters' rights. He won it for the first time in 1988, and seven times since then, tying him with Bill Shoemaker for the most wins in the race.

HOT SPRINGS, Ark. - Last year, Azeri won in a field of all Grade 1 winners in the $500,000 Apple Blossom at Oaklawn Park and went on to become the first female since Lady's Secret in 1986 to be voted Horse of the Year.

This year, she makes what would have been a very good Apple Blossom great. The Apple Blossom is Azeri's first race since she romped by five lengths in the Breeders' Cup Distaff on Oct. 26.

HOT SPRINGS, Ark. - Medaglia d'Oro will start a new chapter in his racing career Saturday in the Grade 2, $500,000 Oaklawn Handicap, but there is little suspense involved.

In his first start in a handicap, Medaglia d'Oro is the 122-pound highweight and probable odds-on favorite. The field of five is completed by last year's race winner Kudos, Crafty Shaw, Slider, and Gold Tango.