Royal Delta ended last year by winning the Breeders’ Cup Ladies Classic and the Eclipse Award as champion 3-year-old female.

Awesome Maria also had huge success in 2011, with victories in the Sabin Stakes and Rampart Stakes at Gulfstream Park and in two major stakes at Belmont Park.

They will meet for the first time on Saturday in the $100,000 Sabin (Grade 3), a 1 1/16-mile dirt stakes for fillies and mares 4 years old and up.

The Sabin is one of three stakes, all for fillies and mares, on Gulfstream’s Saturday card.

On Sunday, it will have the $400,000 Fountain of Youth Stakes (Grade 2) for 3-year-olds. The field includes three horses that are near the top of most lists of Kentucky Derby contenders.

Gulfstream’s other Saturday distaff stakes are the $250,000 Davona Dale (Grade 2), at 1 1/16 miles on dirt for 3-year-olds, and the $100,000 The Very One (Grade 3) at 1 3/8 miles on turf for 4-year-olds and up.

The Sabin will be the first 2012 race for the 4-year-old Royal Delta and for the 5-year-old Awesome Maria.

Royal Delta is returning after a scheduled layoff following her Breeders’ Cup win on Nov. 4 at Churchill Downs. She will be ridden by her regular jockey Jose Lezcano. Trainer Bill Mott is using the Sabin as a prep for a possible trip to Dubai, United Arab Emirates, where Royal Delta would run in the $10 million Dubai World Cup on March 31.

Awesome Maria has not raced since winning the Ogden Phipps Handicap at Belmont on June 18. One month later while training, she suffered a broken bone in her left front leg. Trainer Todd Pletcher said Awesome Maria has been ready to race for more than a month. Her regular jockey John Velazquez has the mount.

The Sabin has just five entrants.

Groupie Doll is likely to seek the early lead and could be the biggest threat to the two favorites. On Jan. 27 at Gulfstream, she finished second in a one-mile allowance race against males.

Grace Hall and Disposablepleasure are the probable favorites in the Davona Dale.

Grace Hall won her first three starts before finishing second to My Miss Aurelia on Nov. 4 in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies stakes. My Miss Aurelia is racing in California this winter.

Disposablepleasure won the 1 1/8-mile Demoiselle Stakes at Aqueduct on Nov. 26.

The field in The Very One has 13 entrants.

It is headed by Keertana, last year’s winner of the race when it had a five-horse field, and Perfect Shirl, winner of last year’s Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Turf stakes.

Fountain of Youth

Algorithms and Discreet Dancer, both unbeaten and trained by Todd Pletcher, and the almost-unbeaten Union Rags head an eight-horse field in the 1 1/16-mile Fountain of Youth.

The race will be the first for Union Rags since Nov. 5, when he finished second by a head to Hansen in the 1 1/16-mile Breeders’ Cup Juvenile.

Union Rags, trained by Michael Matz, won his first three races. Algorithms and Discreet Dancer have both won two races at Gulfstream since early December.

Algorithms won the one-mile Holy Bull (Grade 3) on Jan. 29. The Fountain of Youth will be the stakes debut for Discreet Dancer.