Region of Merit will head a field of eight or nine 3-year-olds in Sunday's $250,000 Tampa Bay Derby, the marquee race at Tampa Bay Downs. Sunday's 13-race card will also include the $150,000 Florida Oaks and the $100,000 Hillsboro Stakes on the turf.

This year's Tampa Derby will be the richest ever. It will also carry graded status for the second consecutive year, meaning any purse money won in the Grade 3 race can be used toward eligibility should the field for the Kentucky Derby oversubscribe.

ARCADIA, Calif. - Santa Catarina, third in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies last fall, made a successful start to her 3-year-old season Wednesday with an easy win in a one-mile optional claimer.

Ridden by Gary Stevens, Santa Catarina rallied three wide on the backstretch, took the lead on the final turn, and pulled away under a hand ride to score by five lengths over Honest Answer. Santa Catarina ($2.60) was timed in 1:37.69, beating six other 3-year-old fillies.

NEW ORLEANS - Badge of Silver, badly beaten as the favorite Sunday in the Louisiana Derby, will undergo a routine surgical procedure this week to correct the physical condition that might have caused his defeat.

HOT SPRINGS, Ark. - Mandy's Gold, who won the Grade 1 Ruffian last September, arrived at Oaklawn Park late Tuesday night following a 19-hour van ride from Miami. She's the probable favorite for the track's Grade 3, $200,000 Oaklawn Breeders' Cup Saturday.

The 1 1/16-mile race for fillies and mares is the final local prep for the Grade 1, $500,000 Apple Blossom Handicap on April 5, which is a goal for Mandy's Gold.

Rene Douglas has the mount Saturday. Mandy's Gold left her Gulfstream Park base for Hot Springs early Tuesday.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. - Trainer Gary Capuano used the New York route to the Kentucky Derby with Captain Bodgit, who won the 1997 Wood Memorial before finishing second in the Kentucky Derby and third in the Preakness.

Sunday at Aqueduct, Capuano will saddle the promising Cherokee's Boy in the $200,000 Gotham, a prep for the $750,000 Wood Memorial on April 12.

At this stage in his career, Cherokee's Boy is not as accomplished as Captain Bodgit, who was a graded stakes winner as a 2-year-old and had won the Grade 1 Florida Derby before winning the Wood Memorial.

PORTLAND, Ore. - With a favorite who was nearly 7-2 and seven of 12 entrants going off at less than 10-1, last Sunday's six-furlong City of Roses Stakes for older fillies and mares looked about as competitive as a race can be. Then it began.

SUNLAND PARK, N.M. - Lorence Lucero, a 43-year-old former assistant to trainer Steve Asmussen, has won with 11 of 28 starts at the current meet, good for eighth in the standings. He has done particularly well with Red Threat, a horse once trained by his former boss.

Country singer Willie Nelson will perform a concert at Lone Star Park following the races April 4. The track opens for a 70-day Thoroughbred meet April 3.

Nelson played Lone Star on opening weekend a year ago, and despite rain, attendance was 23,091.

The Alberta Derby, a Grade 3 race worth $100,000, will be the main event at the Stampede Park meet in Calgary, Alberta, again this year. The Alberta Derby, to be run June 14, heads a list of 12 stakes races worth a total of $550,000.

Barry McGrath, Stampede Park's racing secretary, said that the only changes on the schedule are the conditions of the Duchess of York, Herald Gold Plate, and Penny Ridge, which formerly were handicaps but will be run under allowance conditions this year.

A field of seven 3-year-olds has been entered for Saturday's $1,000,000 Florida Derby to be run at 1 1/8 miles at Gulfstream Park.

The 9-5 morning-line favorite in the race is Empire Maker who drew post six and will be ridden by Jerry Bailey. Empire Maker is trained by Bobby Frankel who just scored an upset victory in last weekend's Louisiana Derby with Peace Rules. Empire Maker has won one of his three lifetime starts to date, and has stakes placings in both last month's restricted Sham Stakes at Santa Anita and last fall's Remsen-G3 at Aqueduct.