Ventura to Make Final Career Start in Saturday's Matriarch

Ventura at Santa Anita, 10-17-08.

Ventura will be saddled by Humberto Ascanio, the longtime assistant to Hall of Fame trainer Bobby Frankel, for the final start of her career in The Matriarch on Saturday at Hollywood Park. Frankel, who passed away Nov. 16, is the all-time leading trainer at Hollywood Park. He captured 13 training titles at the Inglewood track -- six of them consecutive -- and saddled a record eight Matriarch winners.

Ventura won the 2008 Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Sprint and was runner-up in 2009. She has earned more than $2 million in 20 career starts, with 9 wins, including the Woodbine Mile against males.

The Grade 1 Matriarch Stakes for fillies and mares three years old and up will be run at one mile on the turf. Saturday is the second day of Hollywood Park’s 18th Turf Festival, a series of grass races that was introduced at the 1991 Autumn Meet. Saturday's card also features the Grade 3 Generous Stakes.

Friday features the Grade 1 Citation Handicap. Sunday — Zenyatta Day at Hollywood Park — will feature the Grade 1 Hollywood Derby and the Grade 3 Miesque Stakes.