Groupie Doll totes just 112 in Presque Isle Masters title
defense
Reigning champion female sprinter Groupie Doll enters her title defense in
Monday evening’s Grade 2, $400,000
Presque Isle Downs Masters in rather different fashion from her first
appearance here.
Last year, the Buff Bradley trainee was coming off back-to-back Grade 1 wins.
This time, Groupie Doll exits a loss in her belated reappearance, and makes her
second start back against razor-sharp opponents like Judy the Beauty. As a
result, the defending champion gets in with an impost of just 112 pounds, much
less than her 123-pound co-highweight status in the 2012 Masters. She is in
receipt of six pounds from current stakes winners Winning Image, Mystic City and
Purely Hot.
Groupie Doll’s entire 2013 season has been diametrically opposed to her
Eclipse-worthy campaign. The Bowman’s Band mare didn’t begin her career until
the summer of 2011, but was on the go from that point forward and into a busy
first half of 2012. She appeared to thrive on the activity, as evidenced by her
Grade 1 breakthrough in the Madison at Keeneland and an even more authoritative
7 1/4-length conquest of the Humana Distaff on Kentucky Derby Day.
Given a summer break, Groupie Doll returned from her four-month vacation in
the Masters and outclassed her rivals by 3 3/4 lengths. She extended her winning
streak to four in the Thoroughbred Club of America, where she drew off by 6 1/2
lengths, and clinched her divisional crown with a 4 1/2-length tally in the
Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Sprint at Santa Anita. She has raced only twice since
then.
Groupie Doll wheeled back three weeks after the Breeders’ Cup to take on
males in the Cigar Mile Handicap. A victory would have propelled her into the
discussion for Horse of the Year honors, and the bold gambit nearly paid off.
Groupie Doll ran a mighty race only to be denied by Stay Thirsty in a
nail-biter.
When beginning to gear up for her five-year-old campaign at Gulfstream Park
over the winter, Groupie Doll just wasn’t herself. First her bloodwork was off,
prompting treatment with antibiotics. Once healthy again, she still wasn’t
training with her usual zest, and Bradley decided to give her plenty of time
off. She enjoyed her rest and recreation with another Bradley homebred, Brass
Hat, at the family farm, before getting back to work in the summer.
Plans originally called for Groupie Doll to reappear in either the Ballerina
at Saratoga on August 23 or in Presque Isle’s signature race. But she was
training so sharply at her Churchill Downs base that Bradley opted to bring her
back in the August 10 Gardenia at Ellis Park. She had earned her first graded
victory in the 2011 running of the one-mile event, but trying it off a
nine-month layoff didn’t pan out. Stumbling at the start, racing too keenly and
having to steady didn’t help either, and the 1-5 favorite settled for third,
beaten a length.
Groupie Doll has drilled a couple of strong half-miles in the interim, and
with the Gardenia under her belt, she’s eligible to roar back in this 6
1/2-furlong scramble on the Tapeta. Regular rider Rajiv Maragh will be back
aboard as the 6-5 morning-line favorite breaks from post 10. In the
circumstances, bettors will have to decide if it’s worth siding with Groupie
Doll at such a short price, or try to beat her.
The first alternative is multiple Grade 1-placed Judy the Beauty, who is a
perfect three-for-three on synthetic. Trained by Wesley Ward, the daughter of
Ghostzapper sports a pair of wins at Keeneland as well as in the Shady Well at
Woodbine as a juvenile. Judy the Beauty has also finished second in five major
dirt contests — the 2011 Spinaway; the 2012 Prioress, where she missed by
inches, and Gallant Bloom; and this year’s Winning Colors and Princess Rooney.
She was all set to line up in the Ballerina, but acted up badly in the gate and
had to be scratched.
Ward had reportedly been brimming with confidence prior to the Ballerina.
Judy the Beauty signaled that she’s in the same rip-roaring form when zipping
five-eighths in a bullet :59 1/5 over Keeneland’s Polytrack September 1.
Spotting Groupie Doll three pounds, she is drawn right to her inside in post 9.
New rider David Flores will try to help her score an overdue first graded win.
Queen’s Award, a well-beaten third to Judy the Beauty at Keeneland two back,
was most recently runner-up in the June 29 Chicago Handicap on the Arlington
Polytrack. Kent Desormeaux comes in to retain the mount.
Winning Image brings a four-race winning streak on dirt, and aims to stay hot
while stepping up in class and trying synthetic. Well beaten in the 2012
Honorable Miss in her only prior graded attempt, the front runner played second
fiddle to Nicole H in last fall’s Endine at Delaware and Daylily at Penn
National before commencing her skein in the December 15 Willa on the Move at
Laurel. The Michael Aro-trained mare went on to wire the May 25 My Juliet at
Parx, the June 27 Dashing Beauty and the July 20 Sweet and Sassy, both at
Delaware. Winning Image figures to have early company in Allwewantforxmas, a
track-and-trip allowance winner on August 14 for Michael Trombetta, and Toto Cor
(who is cross-entered to Monday’s 1ST race).
Purely Hot, unbeaten from six career starts at Presque Isle, has won five
straight since being claimed by Nick Caruso for $10,000 in March. Although four
of those recent wins have come in starter allowances, the Pure Prize mare did
demolish the Satin and Lace by five lengths in June.
Deep closer Sounds of the City has spent much of her career on turf, getting
up for minor awards in a quartet of stakes. Representing the same connections as
Diana and Ballston Spa heroine Laughing — owner Richard Santulli and trainer
Alan Goldberg — Sounds of the City was a troubled fifth in the August 2 Caress
at Saratoga. The form of that race has held up well, with the victorious
Silverette annexing the Turf Amazon and third Madame Giry taking the Smart and
Fancy.
Mike Maker sends out Lotta Lovin, a five-time stakes winner on synthetic,
including last year’s Malvern Rose going 1 1/16 miles over the track. She
successfully shortened up to this distance to capture an August 19 allowance
here. In the process, she turned the tables on Mystic City, who had beaten her
in the June 30 Windward in their last meeting. Lotta Lovin picks up the services
of Rosie Napravnik.
Todd Beattie, best known for conditioning sprint warrior Fabulous Strike, has
a new prospect in Srikinglybeautiful. Sired by Smart Strike (like Fabulous
Strike), the up-and-coming sophomore is out of a half-sister to Hall of Famer
Tiznow from the family of Paynter and Oxbow. Srikinglybeautiful has swept to two
straight allowance victories on the local Tapeta, and makes her stakes debut in
this spot.
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