Ramser runner-up dangerous in Matiara

INGLEWOOD, Calif. - Gabriellina Giof ran too well to lose when she finished second by a nose to Cindy's Hero in the Harold Ramser Handicap at Santa Anita on Oct. 14.

"I couldn't believe she got beat," trainer Ron McAnally said. "That other filly just came up and got her on the line."

Gabriellina Giof will need another top effort to win Saturday's $100,000 Matiara Stakes at Hollywood Park. Run over 1 1/8 miles on turf, the Matiara Stakes has drawn seven 3-year-old fillies.

The Matiara is the circuit's final major turf stakes of the year for the age group, and it features three stakes winners, including Alinga, the winner of the minor Carmel Handicap at Bay Meadows in September.

Gabriellina Giof is likely to be the second choice behind Heads Will Roll, who won a division of the Grade 3 Pebbles Handicap at Belmont Park on Oct. 14 for trainer Bobby Frankel.

The Pebbles was Heads Will Roll's first stakes win and first start in five months. She needed the summer off after being injured in a horse van that was transporting her to Monmouth Park. Heads Will Roll required stitches after the incident and then missed a start in an allowance race at Belmont Park on Sept. 30 when the race was taken off the turf, Frankel said.

A closer, Heads Will Roll has a strong turn of foot that should carry her into contention. "The distance should help me," Frankel said.

Tactically, Gabriellina Giof and Heads Will Roll should have good trips. Thewholebag and Walts Wharf, who makes her 18th start of the year, should ensure a good pace. Another closer with a chance is Live Your Dreams, who was second in the Honeymoon Handicap here last July.

Gabriellina Giof has never won beyond 7 1/2 furlongs, but the second in the Ramser Handicap left McAnally and jockey Chris McCarron encouraged. Even though she won the minor Manhattan Beach Stakes at 5 1/2 furlongs on turf here last June, Gabriellina Giof ran a better race in the Ramser, closing from the back of the field when McCarron asked for a rally.

It was a turnaround from her seventh in the Finlandia Cup at Del Mar when she was too close to the pace and faded in the final furlong.

"She'll rate well, which she didn't do at Del Mar," McAnally said. "I asked Chris what he thought about her over the distance, and he thought she could do it."

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