PHOENIX,  – Tiz Gianni found Grade 2 waters far too deep when seventh in the Hollywood Turf Cup on Dec. 15 but a change of venue and change of class altitude did the trick as he captured Saturday’s $75,000 Cotton Fitzsimmons Mile Handicap at Turf Paradise.

Two of the sharpest $7,500 claims in the land reside in the same barn. On Friday at Fair Grounds, trainer Tim Glyshaw sent out Tiban to win a second-level allowance sprint, his sixth victory since being claimed in May. Saturday, My My My Maria took her turn, comfortably capturing the $75,000 Pan Zareta Stakes with a decisive move off the turn and into the homestretch.

ALBANY, Calif. – The finish of the $100,000 California Derby was much better for odds-on favorite Zeewat than the start.

Zeewat ($3.80) hopped as the gate opened, breaking awkwardly and getting shuffled back early in the 1 1/16-mile race that is the major local prep for the Grade 3, $200,000  El Camino Real Derby on Feb. 16.

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. -   Mucho Mas Macho, the second longest price on the board at 40-1, rallied from the rear of the pack to register a  shocking neck victory over the 19-1 Tiz Sardonia Joe in a roughly run edition of the Grade 2 Ft. Lauderdale Stakes at Gulfstream Park. The race became a little more wide open earlier in the day when Dominus, the 12- pound highweight and likely favorite, was scratched.

OLDSMAR, Fla. - Dynamic Sky overcame some traffic problems in the stretch of the $100,000 Pasco Stakes for 3-year-olds to rally past his entrymate Sky Commander and stamp himself as one of the early favorites for local Kentucky Derby prep races with a most impressive victory.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. - After watching the races earlier on Saturday’s card at Aqueduct, trainer James Lawrence and owner George Autry decided to change tactics with their 3-year-old filly Lady Banks for the $75,000 Ruthless Stakes.

Rather than have jockey Eddie Castro take back and make one run, Lawrence instructed Castro to keep Lady Banks close to the pace.

Multiple stakes winner Bold Affair was more than a little reluctant to go into the starting gate for Saturday’s $105,000 What a Summer Stakes at Laurel Park. Thereafter, however, it was smooth sailing.

Bold Affair, racing three wide under jockey Abel Castellano Jr., overtook pacesetter Defy Gravity and second choice Dance to Bristol with about three furlongs remaining and rolled to an easy 4 1/2-length victory in the six-furlong race for fillies and mares.

Castellano said that acting up at the gate is something he has encoutered before with Bold Affair.

ARCADIA, Calif. - Hall of Fame jockey Gary Stevens won for the first time in more than seven years in Saturday’s first race at Santa Anita, less than a week after he came out of retirement.

Stevens, 49, rode Branding ($13.20) to a win in a seven-furlong maiden special weight race for 3-year-old fillies. Branding was fifth entering the turn, and closed well to win by 2 1/2 lengths.

The victory was the first for Stevens since November 2005, the month he announced his retirement. He rode in an old-timers race in 2008, and resumed riding on a regular basis on Jan. 6.

STICKNEY, Ill. – Barring another case of equine herpesvirus late Saturday, Hawthorne Race Course will emerge from a state-mandated disease quarantine at 6 a.m. Sunday.

The quarantine has been in place since late October, and with its expiration, Hawthorne is one major formal step closer to emerging from a herpesvirus outbreak that led to the death of seven horses and impacted the track’s fall-winter meet.

But for many horsemen stuck at Hawthorne for more than two months, the end of the quarantine doesn’t mean that much.

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - Mucho Macho Man completed preparations for his 2013 bow in next Saturday’s Sunshine Millions Classic by working five furlongs in 59.61 under regular exercise rider Nick Petro Jr. on Saturday. Breaking off at the half-mile pole while equipped in blinkers, Mucho Macho Man traveled his first quarter in 23.20 and half in 47.01 before galloping out six furlongs into the turn in 1:14.47.

“It was perfect, just what I wanted. He’s ready to go,” said trainer Katherine Ritvo.