The Player Poised to Continue Bradley Legacy

As William “Buff” Bradley winnowed down his breeding stock, the one broodmare family he and long-time partner Carl Hurst kept in tact was that tracing to one-time Sam-Son Farm filly Regal Export (Regal Classic). Now that lineage has produced the latest potential star from Bradley's Indian Ridge Farm near Frankfort, Ky., as The Player (Street Hero) gives indications of following the Bradley-trained, co-owned and bred millionaires Brass Hat (Prized) and Groupie Doll (Bowman's Band) into the spotlight.

The 3-year-old The Player won his second straight by taking an entry-level Churchill Downs allowance race June 3 by 1 1/2 lengths over the Grade II-placed Unbridled Outlaw (Unbridled's Song), covering the mile in 1:34 3/5 under Shaun Bridgmohan. Next up, The Player will tackle stakes company and two turns in Indiana Grand's GII Indiana Derby July 16.

The timing of The Player's coming-out party is particularly poignant. He won a Churchill maiden race by 5 1/2 lengths on May 14–six days before Bradley's dad, Fred, died at 85. The allowance victory came two weeks after Fred passed.

Fred was The Player's co-breeder with his son and Hurst, his friend of 47 years. That ownership was dissolved to just Buff and Hurst a year ago, given Fred's failing health. Fred was not cognizant when The Player earned his first win. But Buff said as recently as April, the Bradley patriarch told him, “I need another good horse.”

“I told him, 'Well, we've got 'em coming along,'” Buff recalled. “With this one, we bred the whole family together. It's all a product of Fred, really, from way back when. You like to think he's got something to do with it, for sure.”

Fred Bradley, a lawyer and Air Force fighter pilot who served in Vietnam and became a brigadier general in the Kentucky Air National Guard, loomed large, serving as Franklin County Judge and spending 16 years as a Kentucky state senator. He opened Frankfort's first pizza parlor, was attorney for the Kentucky racing commission, developed Indian Ridge and for years trained and galloped the horses he owned.

One of Fred's first horse partners was Hurst. Another was Buff, who as a teen bought small pieces of his dad's horses, before taking over the training in 1995.

The trio purchased Regal Export privately as a 3-year-old in 1994 for $20,000, promptly winning a “non-winners of two” $25,000 claiming race. Regal Export never won again, but Buff loved her pedigree and kept her as a broodmare. She's the third dam of The Player, producing Town Queen (Williamstown), their first homebred stakes-winner and dam of The Player's mom, Hour Queen (Gilded Time). Regal Export also foaled the stakes-placed, 19-time winner King of Speed (Senor Speedy) and 13-time winner Chief Export (Chief Seattle).

Even though $2.17-million earner Brass Hat and two-time GI Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Sprint and Eclipse champion Groupie Doll came from other families, Buff said, “We've always thought this would be our big pedigree.”

The Player ran once at two, finishing fourth in a race in which the first two finishers were GII Louisiana Derby runner-up Tom's Ready (More Than Ready) and GII Risen Star S. second Forevamo (Uncle Mo). He came back with a small knee chip, returning Apr. 9 at Keeneland to take second.

Named by Hurst, The Player could have been called 'The Playful' and it would have been equally appropriate.

Kim Bradley, Buff's wife who runs Indian Ridge with farm manager Kelly Schrader, has a phone filled with pictures of her kids sitting atop of The Player while he's lying on the ground. Well before The Player made it to the track, Buff Bradley told friends about this horse who liked to sit on his haunches.

In fact, the state veterinarian performing the pre-race exam before the allowance victory told Buff Bradley that she thought The Player was trying to colic.

“When I got there, he was lying down, and when he started to get up, he just sat there and was looking at his stomach,” the trainer recalled her saying. “I pulled out my phone and started showing her the pictures. She laughed and said, 'Never mind.'

“When he was a yearling, I was mowing the field with the bush hog. His buddies were standing off in the corner, and he's chasing me. I had to call Kim and Kelly, 'You all have to get him out of this paddock or he's going to climb up in the tractor with me.'”

Hurst quipped, “I think he thinks he's a puppy. As long as he runs like a greyhound, that's fine.”

The Bradleys and Hurst paid $5,000 to breed to Street Hero (Street Cry {Ire}), who now stands in California. Hour Queen was barren this year, but was bred back to New Year's Day (Street Cry) in an effort to get the same cross. The Bradleys and Hurst long have looked for stud fees in the $5,000-$15,000 range, stallions picked with the idea of being able to make money racing rather than the commercial market.

Indian Ridge has gone from 20 broodmares to six. The farm had only one baby this year, with Regal Export's daughter How Regal (Indian Charlie) foaling a colt the day after Fred died.

“The foal was jumping up and playing in the field,” said Hurst, who gave the eulogy at Fred's funeral. “Then one of Fred's horses [first-time starter Shiny Badge] ran the following day at Churchill; finished third at 48-1, just a tremendous race. Turning for home, I told Buff, 'You're probably thinking the same thing I am.'”