HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - Hero's Tribute finished a well-beaten second behind Harlan's Holiday in the Grade 1 Donn Handicap on Feb. 22. Both horses will be back in action Saturday for the first time since that race.

Fortunately for trainer John Ward Jr., Harlan's Holiday will be in Dubai for the World Cup when Hero's Tribute faces eight rivals in the Grade 2, $300,000 Gulfstream Park Handicap.

"Timing is everything," Ward said. "It's always good when the horse who beat you last time is racing 2,000 miles away the next time you run."

ARCADIA, Calif. - Kona Gold is the only horse to win two runnings of the $200,000 Potrero Grande Breeders' Cup Handicap, which will be run for the 21st time Saturday at Santa Anita.

A 9-year-old gelding, he won the Potrero Grande in 2000, the year he won the Eclipse Award as the nation's champion sprinter, and repeated the following year.

A lot has changed since then.

SUNLAND PARK, N.M. - Saturday's $250,0000 WinStar Sunland Park Oaks begins the richest weekend in Sunland history, culminating with the $500,000 WinStar Derby on Sunday.

Racing in New Mexico was on the verge of collapsing in the late 1990's when legislation was passed to allow slot machines at the state's tracks. Because of the success of its slot parlor, Sunland has gradually increased purses and the quality of its racing program. This weekend's stakes show just how far Sunland has come.

Turfway Park on Thursday began allowing the approximate 70 horses stabled in Barn 15 to resume training, although quarantine restrictions are scheduled to remain in place for about another week. Barn 15 horses will train after regular training hours, apart from unaffected horses.

PHOENIX - Less than a length separated Aspen Hill, Moonlit Maddie, and Color Me Fast when they finished one-two-three in an optional claimer at Turf Paradise in early March. Saturday's $35,000 Desert Sky features a rematch of the three - and there remains little difference among them.

The race, for fillies and mares, is at a mile on the turf, the same distance as the March 3 optional claimer.

At first glance, it would not seem a big deal that jockey Jason Lumpkins and trainer Bernie Flint are on the threshold of setting records at Turfway Park.

But, after taking into account that Turfway, in Florence, Ky., lost most or all of 15 programs to weather-related cancellations this winter, their impending feats are especially impressive.

Wayne's Princess, whose first win at the Sam Houston Race Park meet came against $7,500 claimers, will be among the favorites Saturday night in the track's $35,000 Double Your Flavor Stakes.

A seven-furlong race for statebred fillies and mares, the Double Your Flavor is the final stakes of the meet, which will close Sunday night. The race is named for a horse who won a record 17 races at Sam Houston.

GRAND ISLAND, Neb. - Twelve-year-old Leaping Plum will make his last stakes start of the Fonner Park meeting when he heads a field of nine in the $25,000 Budweiser-Tondi Handicap at six furlongs.

Leaping Plum is the co-highweight, with Tate's Way, at 121 pounds. Leaping Plum will be spotting his rivals from 4 to 8 years of age in a race he won in 1995 and 1998.

Newil Wall will be aboard as Leaping Plum seeks his 32nd career victory and looks to push his earnings past the $400,000 mark. On

NEW ORLEANS - The camellias are blooming in New Orleans, and the meet has reached its final weekend. This used to be Sarah Lane's Oates time of year.

One of the best Louisiana-bred grass mares ever, Sarah Lane's Oates won the closing-day Red Camellia Handicap here three years in a row. Sarah Lane's Oates is a broodmare now, but Saturday's featured race, for 3-year-old Louisiana-bred fillies on turf, bears her name.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. - Regal Sanction, last year's Grade 2 Pegasus Handicap winner, made a successful 4-year-old debut Thursday, taking a seven-furlong allowance race by 1 1/2 lengths at Aqueduct.

Making his first start since a sixth-place finish in the Discovery Handicap last Oct. 23, Regal Sanction raced with the pace three wide under Jose Santos, took a short lead turning for home, and outdueled Our Summer Storm through the stretch. Regal Sanction ($4.80) covered the seven furlongs in a swift 1:22.11. Our Summer Storm held second by a nose over Paynes Bay.