Breeders' Cup Filly and Mare Sprint: Groupie Doll eager to go following long trip

Barbara D. Livingston

Contested works a bullet six furlongs Sunday in preparation for the Breeders' Cup Filly and Mare Sprint.

ARCADIA, Calif. – Kentucky-based Groupie Doll, early favorite for the $1 million Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint on Saturday, needed very little time to settle in at Santa Anita.

Winner of four consecutive stakes, Groupie Doll arrived Saturday and by nightfall was “bucking and playing in her stall” according to owner-trainer Buff Bradley’s traveling team.

Bradley will arrive in California on Thursday with his father and co-owner Fred Bradley. Groupie Doll’s entourage at Santa Anita includes assistant trainers Maria Kabel and Matt Hebert, and exercise rider Jada Schlenk.

[BREEDERS' CUP WORKOUTS: Full DRF coverage, Mike Welsch video reports]

“They are my eyes and ears,” Bradley said Sunday morning from Kentucky, after Groupie Doll had her first Santa Anita gallop. “I feel she made the ship well. She’s usually a good-feeling filly,” Bradley said.

Groupie Doll shipped so well and acclimated so easily that she will have a short workout Monday morning in preparation for the Filly and Mare Sprint on Saturday.

Groupie Doll has won four straight graded stakes by three or more lengths. While three wins were on synthetic surfaces at Keeneland and Presque Isle Downs, her blowout win in the Grade 1 Human Distaff on dirt at Churchill Downs earned a 112 Beyer Speed Figure, fastest of 2012 by a filly or mare.

“Obviously she can run on anything,” Bradley said. “I’ve seen her run on all surfaces. I really think she likes the dirt better.”

Groupie Doll’s rivals in the Filly and Mare Sprint are expected to include 2011 Filly and Mare Sprint winner Musical Romance, front-runner Dust and Diamonds, and late-runner Switch.

Other pre-entrants are Contested, Turbulent Descent, Belle of the Hall, Teddy’s Promise, and Rumor.

Contested worked six furlongs Sunday at Santa Anita in 1:11.40, fastest of 21 works at the distance. Contested, winner of the Grade 1 Test in August at Saratoga in her most recent start Aug. 25, is playing catch-up.

“I lost about five days. She had a virus,” trainer Bob Baffert said. “It’s a tough race and I lost that week, but she worked really good. She went off a little fast.”

The Filly and Mare Sprint status of Rumor will be determined Monday, trainer Richard Mandella said. Filly and Mare Sprint pre-entrant Reneesgotzip is expected to go in the Turf Sprint.