Bradley: ‘I’ll think of (Groupie Doll) every day of my
life’
While only two races appear to remain in her racing career,
trainer William “Buff” Bradley believes champion Groupie Doll is poised to end
her racing days in spectacular style.
The five-year-old homebred daughter of Bowman’s Band tuned up
for a run in next Saturday’s Grade 2, $200,000 Thoroughbred Club of America Stakes at
Keeneland with a four-furlong work in :48 1/5 on Saturday at Churchill Downs.
The Keeneland race will be a final prep for Groupie Doll’s
bid for a second consecutive victory in the Breeders’ Cup Filly &
Mare Sprint at seven furlongs at Santa Anita.
Exercise rider Jada Schlenk was up as the reigning champion female sprinter breezed over a fast track in fractional
times of :13, :25 and :36 3/5 before galloping out five furlongs in 1:01 1/5.
“I got her in :47 and three from the three-eighths (pole) to the
seven-eighths and Jada said everything was great,” Bradley said. “I
have not seen her so focused for this long a period of time and I am feeling
real good about her. She’s ready to go. I’d like to keep her like this for the
next six weeks.”
The work ranked as the 11th-fastest of 66 at the distance
on a busy morning at Churchill Downs.
“The work was very good,” Bradley said. “She galloped out
good and strong all the way, and Jada said that she’s ready.”
The Keeneland race will be only the third start of the year
for Groupie Doll, who is owned by a partnership that includes the trainer and
his 82-year-old father, Fred Bradley, and William Hurst and Brent Burns. She
spent the early part of the year on the Bradley family farm near Frankfort, Kentucky,
after she seemed lethargic in her training early in the year in Florida.
Groupie Doll returned to competition with a third-place run in the Gardenia at Ellis Park in Henderson, Kentucky, a race she won as a
three-year-old in 2011, but returned to form earlier this month with a second
consecutive victory in the Presque Isle Downs Masters at Pennsylvania’s Presque
Isle Downs. She established a record of 1:14.88 for six furlongs with a
comfortable 1 1/2-length victory over that track’s synthetic Tapeta surface.
As good as Groupie Doll has been over her past three
seasons, Bradley sees daily evidence that his star is still developing and
maturing.
“I think I see a lot more in her — maybe not in speed out
here, but her mind,” he said. “Watching her walk around the shedrow, she comes
out of the stall and she’s on it. She used to walk out of the stall and just
wander down the shedrow. No big deal, she’s just another horse.
“Now she’s kind of like, ‘Hey, I’m the queen.’ She goes out
with a presence. It’s good for me to see her mentally develop that part of it.”
The homebred mare and the best horse of Bradley’s career
will not return to the family farm when this year ends. She will be a headline
attraction in Keeneland’s November Breeding Stock Sale and will pass through the
auction ring on the Tuesday after her Breeders’ Cup run.
Bradley acknowledged that it will be difficult to see
Groupie Doll head to a new home but the decision is necessary for the future of
the family farm and all associated with it.
“It doesn’t mean that I’ll never think of her — I’ll think
of her every day of my life when she sells,” Bradley said. “I’ll guarantee that
I’ll go out there teary-eyed, and I’ll be sad and it’s gonna hurt, but it’s the
only thing that we can do.”
Since the news of Groupie Doll’s impending appearance in
the auction ring broke, Bradley has received emails from fans who question how
the family could possibly part with a star that has done so much for their
operation.
Another Bradley star — Grade 1-winning gelding Brass Hat
— was retired to the farm after he completed his career with 10 wins in 40
races and earnings of $2,173,561. But Bradley said he and his father would have
faced the same decision with Brass Hat if he had the prospect of a career as a
stallion. And they would have reached the same conclusion in Brass Hat’s case.
“They don’t know the whole story,” Bradley said of the critics. “They don’t
know what I have to go through at the farm and with my family. I have to take
care of them first. Groupie Doll is going to be taking care of the rest of my
horses, basically.
“That will be a sad day, but for now I am just trying to focus on her next
two races,” he added. “We bred her and raised her. It is just like one of
your children.”
Groupie Doll will attempt to take care of business
next week at Keeneland and five weeks later in the Breeders’ Cup. She will take
a career record of 10-4-3 in 19 races and earnings of $1,908,850 with her when
she boards a van next Saturday for the hour-long ride to Keeneland and the
penultimate start of her career in the Thoroughbred Club of America. The
chestnut will try to become only the second filly to win the TCA in consecutive
years, joining only Excitable Lady (1982-83).
Considered as likely to challenge Groupie Doll in the Thoroughbred Club of
America are Gypsy Robin, Judy the Beauty, Livi Makenzie, Purely Hot and
Tanglewood Tale.
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