Miss Missile hits the road again

Well-traveled Miss Missile will make her seasonal debut in the $10,000 Bold Accent Stakes at Fonner Park on Saturday.

A 4-year-old daughter of Golden Missile owned and trained by Charles Smith, Miss Missile visited four states and a foreign country last year while racking up 5 wins from her 12 starts.

Miss Missile raced at Delta Downs, Lone Star Park, and Louisiana Downs early last year, then journeyed to Assiniboia Downs in Canada and reeled off four consecutive wins in stakes company. She opened her streak with a romping 9 3/4-length win in the Chantilly Stakes and then defeated older females in the Canada Day Stakes. She also took the Assiniboia Downs Oaks and the Jack Hardy during her streak, all of which came at a mile or longer.

She returned to Prairie Meadows in Iowa to set the pace against males in the Prairie Meadows Derby before tiring to sixth. Miss Missile was then on the road again, returning to Delta Downs and finishing up her campaign with an eighth-place finish at Zia Park in New Mexico.

On Saturday she'll face five other fillies and mares in the four-furlong Bold Accent while trying to improve her career record of 10 wins from 23 starts and earnings of over $338,000. Freshened since Nov. 29, Miss Missile worked a half-mile at Lone Star Park in 48.40 seconds on Feb. 3. Her competition on Saturday will be less traveled but speedy, with Rare Crystal and Real Battleaxe her main threats.

Rare Crystal was third in her two stakes efforts last year for trainer Jim Cranwell. She should be contesting the lead of this sprint with Real Battleaxe, who had a pair of wins last year in optional claiming company for trainer Marv Johnson.