Miss Terrible Is Back for Another Try in Gamely

Two years back, in her U.S. debut, the Argentine-bred champion Miss Terrible finished fourth in the Gamely Handicap at Hollywood Park. Strangely, that was two trainers -- but only three races -- ago.

Now Miss Terrible is back for another Gamely, which will be run Monday. The 6-year-old mare, who’ll be ridden by Mike Smith for the first time, faces eight rivals while carrying high weight of 118 pounds. The assigned high weight, Megahertz, who was second and third in the last two runnings of the Gamely, will stay in the barn because her trainer, Bobby Frankel, objected to a 124-pound impost.

Speaking of Frankel, he was Miss Terrible’s trainer in that 2003 Gamely. Then Wesley Ward took over for a sixth-place finish that August at Saratoga. Since then, Miss Terrible has been trained by 52-year-old Bradley Ross, who has been a Chicago blacksmith for most of his racetrack career. It was Ross, watching videotapes of Miss Terrible’s races in Argentina, who recommended her to Carol and Chip Hammersmith of Elburn, Ill. The Hammersmiths paid $1.5 million for the horse after she won seven straight graded races.

Miss Terrible is the only horse in Ross’ barn at Hawthorne in suburban Chicago. When he got her, the goal was the Beverly D. at Arlington Park, but she suffered a broken knee, forcing Ross to wait. That was followed by a bleeding problem and a fungus infection.

Finally, this winter, Ross shipped Miss Terrible to Santa Anita, where in her first start in 19 months she won the Las Flores Handicap at six furlongs on dirt. After that, on Kentucky Derby day, Miss Terrible went to a mile on grass and won the Comp USA Mile at Churchill Downs. The Gamely is 1 1/8 miles on grass.

“This mare didn’t acclimate well in the U.S.,” Ross said. “But she and I really connected. Before every one of her races, there’s always been something. She coughed before the Las Flores. Before the Churchill race, she had a [bad] reaction to a shot and came down with the hives. She got a slight case of colic last week, missing four days of training, but maybe in her case that’s a good sign. She galloped a mile and a half [Saturday at Hollywood] and looked fine.”

This is the Gamely field, in post-position order: Nadeszhda, Amorama, Mea Domina, Flip Flop, Miss Terrible, Island Fashion, Halo Ola, Solar Echo and Uraib. Mea Domina and Solar Echo, both owned by Janis Whitham, will be coupled in the betting.

In another Grade I stake at Hollywood on Memorial Day, seven horses are entered in the Shoemaker Mile, including Singletary, the Breeders’ Cup Mile winner who was second to Designed For Luck in the Shoemaker last year. The field also includes Special Ring, second in the 2003 Shoemaker, and Castledale, who since switching from dirt to grass has won the San Francisco Mile.

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Afleet Alex, winner of the Preakness and the expected favorite for the Belmont Stakes on June 11, will stay at Pimlico in Baltimore longer than expected. His trainer, Tim Ritchey, is concerned about what might be an outbreak of strangles, a bacterial disease that can result in fever and swelling of lymph glands. Ritchey, who likes to give his horses a lot of time to acclimate at tracks where they’re going to run, plans to work Afleet Alex on Wednesday at Pimlico.

A Belmont Park filly is suspected of having strangles, although her blood work hasn’t been completed. Strangles struck horses at the Palm Meadows training center in South Florida this winter. There has been one confirmed strangles case at Delaware Park.

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Oratory won the Peter Pan at Belmont, breaking Slew o’ Gold’s 1983 stakes record by running 1 1/8 miles in 1:46 1/5 , but he is ineligible for the Triple Crown and isn’t expected to be supplemented into the Belmont Stakes. Reverberate ran second, Golden Man was third and favored Chekhov finished fourth. ... Ghostzapper, the 2004 horse of the year who has been idle since winning the Breeders’ Cup Classic on Oct. 30, returns Monday in the Metropolitan Handicap at Belmont. He’s the high weight with 123 pounds, which is five to nine pounds more than his six rivals. ... Alex Solis won both stakes at Hollywood, riding Osidy to victory in the Will Rogers and clicking with Winendynme in the Tranquility Lake. ... Stormin’ Lyon broke the Hollywood record for five furlongs on grass with a :55 3/5 clocking Friday night in the Bullet Stakes. ... In what was called a settlement with the California Horse Racing Board, trainer Vladimir Cerin was fined $4,000 after his horse, Atouratoura, tested positive for clenbuterol after winning a race at Hollywood on May 1, 2003. The purse money was taken away from Atouratoura and redistributed. Clenbuterol is a bronchial dilator used on horses with breathing problems.