Bradley & Pope Attempt to Win Groupie Doll's Namesake

HENDERSON, Ky.–After Crown D' Oro (Medaglia d'Oro) won an allowance race June 5 at Churchill Downs, trainer Buff Bradley said he told owner Mandy Pope, “You know what race we need to shoot for.' And she knew exactly what I was talking about.”

The Groupie Doll, Ellis Park's signature race, offers a $100,000 purse and Grade III status. It was a logical target, but something else makes this Saturday's mile stakes coveted beyond enhancing the value of a filly.

Bradley trained, co-owned and was co-breeder of Groupie Doll (Bowman's Band), the two-time champion female sprinter for whom Ellis Park last year renamed the stakes formerly known as the Gardenia. When Bradley and his father, the late Fred Bradley, opted to sell Groupie Doll at Keeneland's 2013 November sale, the buyer was Pope, who paid $3.1 million for the daughter of Bowman's Band.

“I think back to the history of the race,” Bradley said. “When I was a kid, I was always thinking, 'Man, I'd love to win the Gardenia. That's the biggest race at Ellis Park.' Now that it's named the Groupie Doll, it's really meaningful for me.”

Crown D' Oro will try to make the Ellis race her first stakes victory in her stakes debut just like Groupie Doll. In her last start, Crown D' Oro was a good third in a July 1 allowance race whose winner Conquest Curlgirl (Curlin) and runner-up Emmajestic (Zensational) also are Groupie Doll-bound.

“We're very excited about it,” Pope said by phone. “We thought it would be great if we could go in it. But of course you want to have a shot of winning it; we didn't want to just run for the sake of running in it. Buff said the filly is doing very well and he wants to go. It would be a wonderful race for both myself and Buff to win.”

Crown D' Oro's first victory came in her first start on grass, but she struggled in four more turf races. Turned over to Bradley this spring, she was sixth in her return to dirt, but lost by less than three lengths while mired in traffic. She then won the June 5 allowance race under James Graham, her jockey Saturday.

“It seemed like she was back to form,” Bradley said. “And she ran a big race last time. This is a tough race, very competitive. But if she gets away in good order, she ought to be close and be a factor in the race early. If she is, her heart gets big and she should finish strong.”

Groupie Doll won the 2011 Gardenia in her fourth career start after taking an Ellis Park allowance race by 8 1/2 lengths. But she really made her mark on racing at age four when she won five straight races–starting with Keeneland's GI Madison S. and Churchill Downs' GI Humana Distaff, a run capped by her first of two GI Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Sprint championships at Santa Anita.

The next year did not go as smoothly. After considerable time off, Bradley opted to bring Groupie Doll back in the Gardenia, where she finished third at 1-5 odds. It was a stunning defeat for the champ, but Bradley felt it served its purpose of getting her on the right track. Groupie Doll proved him correct by taking the 2013 Breeders' Cup by a half-length over Judy The Beauty (Ghostzapper), who would win the race in 2014.

After Pope's acquisition, Groupie Doll raced twice more. She finished a close fourth after nearly being dropped during the GI Cigar Mile against males, a race she lost by a nose the year before.

“Mandy said, 'I really want to run her one more time. I want her to go out a winner,'” Bradley said. That turned out to be a seven-length victory in Gulfstream Park's GIII Hurricane Bertie, Pope's first graded-stakes triumph as an owner.

Today Groupie Doll is at Lexington's Timber Town Stables, having foaled a son of the Gainesway Farm superstar stallion Tapit last year and a Tapit filly this year. She's carrying another son of Tapit.

“Groupie is wonderful. She still has a great big fan club,” Pope said. “Groupie's foal last year, we had some problems with, they actually had to take her foal right away to Rood & Riddle (equine hospital). But he's doing great now. He's a yearling and I have him down here with me at Whisper Hill Farm [in Citra, Florida]. We're going to keep him and run him. She has a Tapit filly this year and everything went perfectly. She got to keep this filly and raise her, and she's been a wonderful mama.”