(from Hollywood Park)
Ventura, a multiple grade I stakes winner who finished second in the Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Sprint (gr. I) at Santa Anita, is expected to return in Hollywood Park's $300,000 Matriarch (gr. IT) on Nov. 28.
Humberto Ascanio, assistant to trainer Bobby Frankel, watched the 5-year-old mare gallop at Hollywood Nov. 12 in preparation for the grade I test for fillies and mares at one mile on turf. Frankel has won the race a record eight times, all during the past 12 editions.
Ventura, a Juddmonte Farms homebred scheduled to join the broodmare ranks next year, has won nine of 20 races and earned more than $2.4 million. A daughter of Chester House, she beat males in the Woodbine Mile (Can-IT) in September and also scored grade I victories in the 2009 Santa Monica Handicap at Santa Anita and the 2008 Just A Game Stakes at Belmont Park.
In her only previous outing on the Hollywood Park turf, Ventura finished second in the 2008 CashCall Mile (gr. IIT), a nose behind Diamond Diva.
Ascanio said Frankel's West Coast stable has been bolstered by the addition of two other turf fillies: Juddmonte's 3-year-old Dreamt, a listed stakes winner from France, and Treat Gently from New York.