2/7/14
Last updated: 2/6/14 5:19 PM
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Groupie Doll will conclude her illustrious career on Sunday in the Hurricane Bertie
(Breeders’ Cup Ltd.) |
Unlike the Donn and Gulfstream Park Turf Handicap, the Grade 3, $150,000
Hurricane Bertie was originally scheduled for Sunday but found itself being
overshadowed by the aforementioned pair of Grade 1s when they were reassigned to
that day as part of the The Jockey Club Tour on FOX racing series.
Overshadowed, that is, until it became apparent that the 6 1/2-furlong
contest would be the swan song for two-time champion female sprinter Groupie
Doll, though it was never in Mandy Pope’s plans to race the Bowman’s Band mare in
the New Year.
Pope purchased Groupie Doll strictly as a broodmare
prospect for $3.1 million at the Keeneland November sale, a few days after the Buff
Bradley-trained champion captured her second-straight Breeders’ Cup
Filly & Mare Sprint.
A subsequent decision to run the chestnut mare
one more time in the Cigar Mile, in which she experienced a rough trip
during a fourth-place performance, also didn’t turn out as planned.
“It was
horrible and I hated to end her career like that. It was cold, not a fun day
over all,” Pope said. “I figured down here with the nice weather, people will be
able to be outside and see her and enjoy her. Hopefully, it will be a grand way
for her to have her last race.”
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Groupie Doll, who will be ridden by Rajiv Maragh, is
expected to be the odds-on favorite to conclude her sterling career in the Hurricane Bertie, which attracted a field of seven fillies and mares.
“It’s not about the money. Mandy really does care about her
horses,” said Bradley, who bred the six-year-old Groupie Doll in
partnership with his father, Fred. “On paper, Groupie Doll looks like she should
win, but there’s a reason they put them all in the starting gate. We still need
things to go well.”
Pope formed a special attachment to Groupie Doll at the
Keeneland November Sale before even Bradley knew it.
“I was trying to hide from Buff around the corner, and I
saw her stick her head out and people were giving her peppermints. I said, ‘Hmmm.’ Then they took her out to show her to some people and she was so kind. I
said, ‘Oh, Dear,'” Pope recalled about the sudden impulse to add Groupie Doll to
her high-powered, high-profile broodmare band.
“I just watched her a little bit,
then I asked him to bring her out for me and I just kind of fell in love with
her. She’s pretty awesome.”
Groupie Doll has, indeed, been awesome during her career,
in which the Eclipse Award winner has earned $2.5 million
while capturing eight stakes.
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Wildcat Lily returns in the Hurricane Bertie off a near five-month break
(Calder/Coady Photography) |
“Although this is going to be her last start and we’ll hate
to see her go, we’re really excited to see her run Sunday,” said Bradley, who
had campaigned Groupie Doll with his father and longtime clients Carl Hurst and
Brent Burns before selling her at auction to Pope.
The entries of Wildcat Lily and Jamaican Smoke in the
Hurricane Bertie are expected to provide a solid pace for Groupie Doll, whose
best races have been from off the pace.
The Manny Azpurua-trained Wildcat Lily
set the pace in the Prioress before coming up just a quarter of a length
short of victory. The D’wildcat four-year-old followed up with a head second in
the Test and closed out 2013 with an uncharacteristic sixth in the September 21
Musical Romance. The Grade 3-scoring chestnut will be making her seasonal bow in
this spot.
Jamaican Smoke is also Grade 1-placed after setting the pace in the Madison
last April. The Eddie Kenneally pupil only competed once more as a
four-year-old, filling the fourth spot in the Humana Distaff on Kentucky Derby
Day, May 4, and opened this year with a third against optional claiming rivals
on January 4.
Heart Stealer has won both of her Gulfstream starts since
being transferred to trainer Marty Wolfson. The Speightstown chestnut scored an entry-level
optional claiming victory by
10 1/2 lengths last October and, most recently, a late-closing triumph by a
quarter-length neck in the six-furlong Sugar Swirl
on December 14.
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Rounding out the field are dual stakes heroine Five Star Momma, who is coming
off a second-place finish in a Laurel stakes on December 28; stakes victress My Due Process; and
stakes debuter Distortion.
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