HOLLYWOOD PARK : Whittingham’s Outlook Rosy on Stakes

Trainer Charlie Whittingham will have the top contenders in Hollywood Park’s final weekend stakes, the Grade I $200,000 Matriarch on Sunday and the Grade III $100,000 Native Diver on Saturday.

The Matriarch, a 1 1/8-mile turf race for fillies and mares 3 years old and up, features the established star Claire Marine and the newcomer Oczy Czarnie.

Lively One and Ruhlmann headline the 1 1/8-mile Native Diver, a main track event for 3-year-olds and up.

Whittingham has won three of eight previous runnings of the Matriarch. He will be attempting to take home his third win in the Native Diver.

Although Whittingham’s three nominees are the high-weights, only Lively One (122) and Ruhlmann (121) will contest the Native Diver while Payant (120) sits this one out. Whittingham said that both his horses were on schedule for the race and he does not give an edge to either horse.

On June 4, Whittingham ran all three horses in the 1 1/8-mile Grade I Californian at Hollywood Park. Sabona won the race with Blushing John finishing second. Whittingham’s trio finished third through fifth with Lively One (118) besting Payant (116) by a length and Ruhlmann (122) trailing Payant by one-half length.

In April, Ruhlmann (119) had the upper hand on Lively One (120), defeating his stablemate by 1 3/4 lengths in the San Bernardino Handicap, also at the Native Diver distance.

Lively One, a dark bay colt by Halo out of Swinging Lizzie, has placed in six of nine starts this year and has earned $434,500.

A win in the Native Diver would put the dark bay colt over the $1 million mark in career earnings.

Lively One was beaten by Hawkster in his last start, finishing fourth in the Grade I Oak Tree Invitational on Oct. 14. The dark bay colt scored his most recent win in the Grade III Cabrillo Handicap at Del Mar on Aug. 26.

Ruhlmann, also a dark bay, finished fourth in his most recent outing to Olympic Prospect in a 6-furlong allowance race on Dec. 3.

Earlier this year he put together a three-race win streak including an impressive win in the Mervin Leroy Handicap here in May. The son of Mr. Leader has won close to $400,000 this year, placing in four of six starts.

Claire Marine and Oczy Czarnie will face each other for the first time in the Matriarch. Claire Marine is one of the top turf fillies in the country. She has won 6 of 11 starts in 1989 and has earned close to $700,000.

Oczy Czarnie, a 3-year-old daughter of Lomond, has only one start in the United States, romping to an eight-length win in the Pucker Up Stakes at Arlington Park on Sept. 1. She has won 5 of 10 races and has earned $196,160.

Oczy Czarnie spent her 2-year-old year and most of her 3-year-old year racing in France.