HOT SPRINGS, Ark. - Kings Command, who earned a 111 Beyer Speed Figure for his explosive win in the $50,000 King Cotton Stakes at Oaklawn Park on Feb. 2, returns Sunday in the first race, a six-furlong allowance that has drawn some of the best sprinters on the grounds, all pointing for the $50,000 Hot Springs Stakes March 29.

"It looks like all the old gang is back for another round," said trainer Jesse "Sonny" Wigginton, who will send out Bidis, a two-time stakes winner last season at Oaklawn, to meet a field of five that is completed by Sand Ridge, Chindi, and Slider.

NEW ORLEANS - After his run in Sunday's Taylor's Special at Fair Grounds, will head for Dubai early next month to run in the $2 million Golden Shaheen on March 23.

Dennis Richard, who co-owns Bonapaw with his twin brother, Jim, feared he had been passed over for an invitation to the race, but was contacted again last week. According to Richard, the shipping company coordinating travel for American horses to Dubai told him Bonapaw had been invited to race.

"It's official," Richard said Friday. "We heard this morning."

ARCADIA, Calif. - Four fillies and mares entered the Grade 3 Las Flores Handicap on Saturday at Santa Anita, a six-furlong race that boils down to a classic David-and-Goliath battle between Above Perfection and Kalookan Queen.

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - This is the time of year that the so-called snowbirds from Canada flock to south Florida, ecstatic to escape their harsh winter climate for a week or two.

Understandably, their showcase track back home, Woodbine, is shuttered for Thoroughbred racing. In the meantime, Gulfstream capably fills the void. With the 36th running of the $150,000 here Saturday, Gulfstream once again pays tribute to the meet-long support shown by fans and horsemen from the Great White North.

Who will adapt best? That may be the deciding factor when 12 well-matched older horses, most of them shippers, meet in Saturday night's $200,000 . The 1 1/8-mile race is the richest of the season at Sam Houston Race Park and one of four stakes on the card Saturday.

"It looks like one of those races anybody can win," said Richard Scherer, who trains 118-pound highweight Mystery Giver. "I think it's going to be about who gets the trip, who takes to the new course, and who handles the shipping."

ALBANY, Calif. - Trainer Wesley Ward is making plans to return to Dubai with Men's Exclusive.

First stop on the trip is at Golden Gate Fields on Saturday for the $100,000 Ken Maddy Sprint, where the 9-year-old Men's Exclusive will be the 121-pound highweight in a field of seven Cal-bred sprinters.

"He's an old horse," Ward said. "We plan on going to Dubai [where Men's Exclusive ran second last year in the $2 million Golden Shaheen], but being an older horse, he runs better with his races close together."

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - Stokosky bulled his way through horses near midstretch, then outgamed 5-2 favorite Whata Brainstorm to post a nose victory in Thursday's $46,000 allowance feature on the Gulfstream Park turf.

NEW ORLEANS - In two of the last three meets, the top-class racemare Lu Ravi, now retired, used a win in the Chou Croute Handicap as a springboard to the Grade 1 Apple Blossom Handicap. And though it is the premier route stakes for older fillies and mares at Fair Grounds, the Chou Croute typically serves just that function: a step to bigger and better things.

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - , a disappointing fourth in his 3-year-old debut, the Holy Bull Stakes, will try to earn a place in the Grade 1 Florida Derby when he returns against preliminary allowance company in Saturday's 10th race.

Nokoma became a legitimate Kentucky Derby contender when he finished a game second behind Saarland in the Grade 2 Remsen Stakes in his juvenile finale. But his 3-year-old campaign started off on a sour note when he tired badly over a deep track to finish a well-beaten fourth behind Booklet and Harlan's Holiday in the Holy Bull.

ARCADIA, Calif. - More purse money in Dubai means fewer horses in California. The trend continues this spring, slicing through a cross-section of the population - the handicap, sprint, and turf divisions. With increasing regularity, horsemen are forsaking the Santa Anita winter meet and instead planning campaigns around the March 23 Dubai World Cup card, which offers total purse money of $15 million. Money talks.