Big weekend @ Hollywood Park
DiscreetCat
Moderator
from the Daily Breeze:
There's no night racing today at Hollywood Park, but the stars will be out all weekend during the track's annual Turf Festival, which includes five graded grass races for purses totaling $1.1 million.
Of course, the biggest star that will appear is the super mare Zenyatta, who will gallop in front of the grandstand following Sunday's seventh race as fans not only get DVDs and posters commemorating her brilliant career, but also the opportunity to say a final goodbye to the racing starlet who finished unbeaten in 14 races.
Overall, eight horses that competed in Breeders' Cup XXVI at Santa Anita earlier this month will be in action this weekend, including Ventura, who will be making the final start of a great career in Saturday's $300,000 Grade I Matriarch for older fillies and mares.
Ventura, winner of the 2008 Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Sprint and runner-up to Informed Decision this year, is one of three horses that former Bobby Frankel assistant Humberto Ascanio will saddle today and Saturday after temporarily taking over Frankel's stable following the Hall of Famer's death Nov. 16 because of complications from lymphoma.
It was one of Frankel's wishes that Ventura end her career with a start in the Matriarch, and Juddmonte Farms, which owns the 5-year-old daughter of Chester House, will honor that request.
"I want her to win it for Bobby," Ascanio said. "He made this filly."
Ventura, who beat males in the Grade 1 Woodbine Mile on Sept. 20 before coming up second best in defense of her Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Sprint title, has won nine of 20 starts for earnings of $2,400,530.
Garrett Gomez, injured in a scary spill during Hollywood Park's nightcap on Saturday, returned to action Wednesday before taking off his Thanksgiving Day mounts. He's expected back today to ride Blue Chagall for trainer Julio Canani in the $300,000 Grade 1 Citation Handicap and will climb aboard Ventura again in the Matriarch.
The Citation, a 1 1/16-mile test for 3-year-olds and up, drew a field of 10, including three Breeders' Cup starters - Cowboy Cal, El Gato Malo and Monzante - and the 6-year-old gelding Ever a Friend, who won the 2008 Kilroe Mile at Santa Anita by 3 3/4 lengths and returned to the races Nov. 5 at Santa Anita following a 17-month layoff and scored a 1 1/4-length victory in an optional claimer down the hill.
Mike Mitchell trains both Monzante, sixth in the 1 1/2-mile Breeders' Cup Turf on Nov. 7, and Ever a Friend.
He said they're both ready for strong efforts.
"The Breeders' Cup may have been too far and too tough for Monzante," Mitchell said of the 5-year-old gelded son of Maria's Mon.
Cowboy Cal, second to Court Vision in last year's Hollywood Derby on the final day of the Turf Festival, will be ridden by Rafael Bejarano in search of the first Grade 1 score of his career.
Ascanio will saddle two horses - Fluke and Proudinsky - in the Citation.
Fluke, who'll be ridden by Joe Talamo after a 3 1/4-length victory in an optional claimer at Belmont Park on Sept. 18, and Proudinsky, with Mike Smith aboard, both have solid shots to find the winner's circle.
The Matriarch, which Frankel won a record eight times, includes seven distaffers but appears to be a four-horse race involving Ventura, Diamondrella, Rutherienne and Tuscan Evening.
Diamondrella, a 5-year-old Rock of Gibraltar mare who will run under the care of trainer Gary Stevens for the first time, has won eight of 16 on the grass and is unbeaten at the Matriarch's 1-mile distance in two tries.
Rutherienne, 11 of 23 on the turf, lands the services of the meet's leading rider, Joel Rosario, and Tuscan Evening comes in off a 1 1/4-length victory in the Grade 2 Las Palmas Handicap at Santa Anita on Nov. 6. The latter will be ridden for the second consecutive race by Bejarano.
There's no night racing today at Hollywood Park, but the stars will be out all weekend during the track's annual Turf Festival, which includes five graded grass races for purses totaling $1.1 million.
Of course, the biggest star that will appear is the super mare Zenyatta, who will gallop in front of the grandstand following Sunday's seventh race as fans not only get DVDs and posters commemorating her brilliant career, but also the opportunity to say a final goodbye to the racing starlet who finished unbeaten in 14 races.
Overall, eight horses that competed in Breeders' Cup XXVI at Santa Anita earlier this month will be in action this weekend, including Ventura, who will be making the final start of a great career in Saturday's $300,000 Grade I Matriarch for older fillies and mares.
Ventura, winner of the 2008 Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Sprint and runner-up to Informed Decision this year, is one of three horses that former Bobby Frankel assistant Humberto Ascanio will saddle today and Saturday after temporarily taking over Frankel's stable following the Hall of Famer's death Nov. 16 because of complications from lymphoma.
It was one of Frankel's wishes that Ventura end her career with a start in the Matriarch, and Juddmonte Farms, which owns the 5-year-old daughter of Chester House, will honor that request.
"I want her to win it for Bobby," Ascanio said. "He made this filly."
Ventura, who beat males in the Grade 1 Woodbine Mile on Sept. 20 before coming up second best in defense of her Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Sprint title, has won nine of 20 starts for earnings of $2,400,530.
Garrett Gomez, injured in a scary spill during Hollywood Park's nightcap on Saturday, returned to action Wednesday before taking off his Thanksgiving Day mounts. He's expected back today to ride Blue Chagall for trainer Julio Canani in the $300,000 Grade 1 Citation Handicap and will climb aboard Ventura again in the Matriarch.
The Citation, a 1 1/16-mile test for 3-year-olds and up, drew a field of 10, including three Breeders' Cup starters - Cowboy Cal, El Gato Malo and Monzante - and the 6-year-old gelding Ever a Friend, who won the 2008 Kilroe Mile at Santa Anita by 3 3/4 lengths and returned to the races Nov. 5 at Santa Anita following a 17-month layoff and scored a 1 1/4-length victory in an optional claimer down the hill.
Mike Mitchell trains both Monzante, sixth in the 1 1/2-mile Breeders' Cup Turf on Nov. 7, and Ever a Friend.
He said they're both ready for strong efforts.
"The Breeders' Cup may have been too far and too tough for Monzante," Mitchell said of the 5-year-old gelded son of Maria's Mon.
Cowboy Cal, second to Court Vision in last year's Hollywood Derby on the final day of the Turf Festival, will be ridden by Rafael Bejarano in search of the first Grade 1 score of his career.
Ascanio will saddle two horses - Fluke and Proudinsky - in the Citation.
Fluke, who'll be ridden by Joe Talamo after a 3 1/4-length victory in an optional claimer at Belmont Park on Sept. 18, and Proudinsky, with Mike Smith aboard, both have solid shots to find the winner's circle.
The Matriarch, which Frankel won a record eight times, includes seven distaffers but appears to be a four-horse race involving Ventura, Diamondrella, Rutherienne and Tuscan Evening.
Diamondrella, a 5-year-old Rock of Gibraltar mare who will run under the care of trainer Gary Stevens for the first time, has won eight of 16 on the grass and is unbeaten at the Matriarch's 1-mile distance in two tries.
Rutherienne, 11 of 23 on the turf, lands the services of the meet's leading rider, Joel Rosario, and Tuscan Evening comes in off a 1 1/4-length victory in the Grade 2 Las Palmas Handicap at Santa Anita on Nov. 6. The latter will be ridden for the second consecutive race by Bejarano.