Forest Mouse pretty much made his case that he’s the top dog among elders in New Mexico as the 5-year-old son of Teton Forest set a track record capturing Sunday’s $50,000 Winsham Lad Handicap at Sunland Park.

ARCADIA, Calif. - The comeback of Hall of Fame jockey Gary Stevens in Sunday’s sixth race at Santa Anita nearly resulted in the first win in more than seven years for the famous rider.

Stevens finished third aboard Jebrica after leading in the stretch of the one-mile turf race for $50,000 claimers. Jebrica could not hold the lead and finished a neck and a nose behind Maybe Tuesday ($13).

The mount was the first of Stevens’s comeback, which he announced last Thursday.

Sunny Desert proved she could go two turns as she ran her winning streak to six with a one-length victory in Sunday’s $67,500 Cat Cay Stakes at Aqueduct.

Moon Philly finished second by 1 1/2 lengths over Morrow Cove.

Jockey Patrick Valenzuela, who has not ridden since Nov. 16 at Betfair Hollywood Park after complaining of knee pain, is scheduled to undergo knee surgery this week, he said on Sunday.

Valenzuela, 50, hoped to have the operation in December, but said that it was delayed while he waited for approval from an insurance company. He is hoping to return to racing in late February.

“I finally got the okay to get the surgery on Friday,” he said. “I hope to be back by the end of the February. They have to go in there and see what’s going on.”

For Saturday’s $150,000 San Fernando Stakes, trainer Doug O’Neill is starting Handsome Mike, who was fourth in the 2012 Sham Stakes and won the $1 million Pennsylvania Derby in September.

The last two starts have not gone as well for Handsome Mike, who was ninth in the Breeders’ Cup Classic here on Nov. 3 and 10th in the Hollywood Derby on turf on Nov. 25.

In recent weeks, O’Neill said that Handsome Mike has undergone a tougher training schedule.

“He was off form but we’re trying him a little bit,” he said. “You might see a fitter and stronger horse.”

Goldencents, the winner of the Grade 3 Sham Stakes at Santa Anita on Saturday, will have “one or two more” starts leading to the Kentucky Derby in May, trainer Doug O’Neill said on Sunday.

O’Neill said a plan will be made on Goldencents’s late winter and spring  season in coming weeks, with the intent of keeping the colt separate as much as possible from three of his other Triple Crown prospects – Avare, He’s Had Enough, and Mudflats.

The Maryland Jockey Club managed to post healthy gains in wagering on both its live racing product and its signal sent to other betting outlets during the 2012 season. The year featured 145 live racing dates and 206 simulcast days.

Based on figures released by the organization on Saturday, total ontrack handle at Pimlico and Laurel rose 6.6 percent from $176.3 million in 2011 to $186.7 million in 2012.

Wagering on Maryland races via simulcast climbed 17.5 percent from $243.8 million to $286.3 million.

Vyjack came out of his hard-fought head victory over longshot Siete de Oros in Saturday’s Grade 2 Jerome Stakes in good order, according to trainer Rudy Rodriguez, but the undefeated gelding will likely not run again until the Grade 3, $400,000 Gotham Stakes on March 2 at Aqueduct.

In winning the $200,000 Jerome, Vyjack won for the third time in as many career starts, all coming in a 67-day period.

ARCADIA, Calif. – Paynter, who has not raced since taking ill following last year’s Haskell Invitational, returned to the track for training at Santa Anita on Saturday morning, the first steps toward what months ago seemed like an improbable comeback.

Paynter had to be hospitalized in clinics on the East Coast, once immediately following the Haskell, and then anew after becoming seriously ill a month later at Saratoga. But after months of rehabilitation, and apparently staving off laminitis, he has returned to training.

ARCADIA, Calif. – Bob Baffert began the day at Santa Anita watching Paynter go to the track for the first time since his return to training, and ended it by watching Coil outduel Ultimate Eagle in a thrilling stretch drive to win his career finale in the Grade 2, $150,000 San Pasqual Stakes for older horses.

“One superstar leaves, another comes back,” Baffert said.