Provincial champs meet at Assiniboia

Miss Missile, who was a champion 3-year-old filly in Manitoba last year after winning all four of her outings at Assiniboia Downs, should pick up where she left off in Sunday s $18,000 allowance feature at Assiniboia Downs.

The five-furlong dash, which attracted a field of five fillies and mares, will go as the seventh of eight races on the program and is a prep for the $30,000 La Verendrye, a six-furlong race that will be run June 10.

Miss Missile, a Kentucky-bred owned and trained by Charles Smith, won the six-furlong Chantilly, the one-mile Canada Day, the one-mile Assiniboia Oaks, and the 1 1/16-mile Jack Hardy in her Winnipeg appearances last season.

This March, Miss Missile was honored as the province s top 3-year-old filly by the Manitoba division of the Horsemen s Benevolent and Protective Association. She also had been considered a leading candidate for horse of the year, but that honor went to older male Monsoon Rain.

Miss Missile returns to Canada with two 2009 starts under her belt, romping victories in sprint stakes at Fonner Park on Feb. 14 and May 2. She will be reunited with her local pilot Rohan Singh.

Polynesian Kitty also was an HBPA champion last season, as she won 3 of her 5 starts here for trainer Jamie Ness to get the nod in the older filly or mare category.

A Kentucky-bred 5-year-old owned by Bradley Butcher, Polynesian Kitty won the La Verendrye, the one-mile prep for the Winnipeg Sun, and the 1 1/16-mile Winnipeg Sun. Her only losses were a second-place finish to Miss Missile in the Canada Day and a fourth in the 1 1/8-mile Matron.

Trained now by Ardell Saylor, Polynesian Kitty has not seen action since the Sept. 20 Matron. Alan Cuthbertson, Assiniboia s leading rider heading into Friday s program, regains the mount.

Rounding out the field are Britannia Road, Fast Actress and Gotadowatuwantmeto, all of whom will be making their first start of the season.