Groupie Doll will be object of affection in Cigar Mile

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Buff Bradley still smiles when he recalls the positive reaction he received from the New York fans as he walked Groupie Doll past the Aqueduct railbirds on the way back to the barn after her nose defeat to Stay Thirsty in last year’s Cigar Mile.

“That was a really good feeling after the race because I thought they might boo us a little bit,” Bradley said. “They were very friendly and very receptive to us bringing her here.”

The reaction figures to be quite similar Saturday when Groupie Doll makes a second straight appearance in the Grade 1 Cigar Mile. Groupie Doll’s presence jazzes up a terrific renewal of the Cigar Mile, which is expected to draw six Grade 1 winners including Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile winner Goldencents, two-time Jockey Club Gold Cup winner Flat Out, Wood Memorial and Haskell winner Verrazano, Vosburgh winner Private Zone and King’s Bishop winner Capo Bastone.

On a cold Monday morning with temperatures only in the upper 20s in New York, Groupie Doll completed major preparations for the Cigar Mile by working a half-mile in 48.47 seconds over the Belmont training track. Working by herself and equipped with blinkers, Groupie Doll, under exercise rider Jada Schlenk, got her final quarter-mile in 24.18 seconds and galloped out five furlongs in 1:01.78. She pulled up six furlongs in 1:16.36.

Back at the barn, as she walked Groupie Doll around the shed row, Schlenk turned to Bradley and said, “You just got to tell Mandy to get her best dress on and get your picture taken.”

Mandy is Mandy Pope, who purchased Groupie Doll for $3.1 million at the Keeneland sale on Nov. 4, three days after Groupie Doll won her second straight Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint. While Pope is primarily a breeder, she agreed to keep Groupie Doll in training for at least one more race, and gave her back to Bradley, who had previously campaigned her with his father, Fred, and Carl Hurst and Brent Burns.

Groupie Doll, a 5-year-old daughter of Bowman’s Band, has only made four starts this year. It took her awhile to recover from her 4-year-old season in which she raced nine times at six tracks in five states. Some suggested to Bradley that the Cigar Mile took its toll on Groupie Doll. He disagrees.

“We had no regrets coming,” he said. “Everybody said, ‘Well, that knocked you out the first part of this year.’ But I’ve always known when your horses are right you run them; when they need a break, you give them a break.

“It wasn’t just one race I don’t think,” Bradley added. “I think it was all just a cumulative effect. She needed more time off than we originally thought.”

Groupie Doll arrived at Gulfstream in late December of last year to begin preparing for her 5-year-old campaign. But after three weeks, Bradley shipped her back to his farm in Kentucky, noting that Groupie Doll’s blood work wasn’t quite right. After three months off, Groupie Doll returned to the track at Churchill and returned to the races in the Grade 3 Gardenia on Aug. 10 at Ellis Park, where she finished third.

Bradley said he was disappointed “for about a half minute” of her performance in that race. The biggest disappointment is that the Ellis Park area is home for his father. Buff Bradley felt the Gardenia set her up for the rest of the year which included repeat victories in the Presque Isle Downs Masters and the Breeders’ Cup sandwiched around a third in the Thoroughbred Club of America at Keeneland. Though Groupie Doll has run well over synthetic surfaces, Bradley believes she prefers dirt.

Bradley said Groupie Doll’s relatively short campaign was one reason he had been thinking about the Cigar Mile even before he ran her in the Breeders’ Cup.

Bradley had originally planned on working Groupie Doll on Sunday morning, but pushed the work back to Monday due to the cold and windy conditions in the New York area on Sunday. Groupie Doll just jogged in the shed on Sunday.

In Monday’s work, Groupie Doll had her ears pricked as she came to the wire and galloped out even stronger than Bradley had expected. Bradley said Schlenk told him “that might have been the best she’s ever worked.”

Groupie Doll will need to be at her best for this year’s Cigar Mile. Last year, there was only a five-horse field. Lured by purse incentives, this year’s Cigar Mile field is shaping up to be deep. As Breeders’ Cup winners, Groupie Doll and Goldencents run for the winner’s share of $1 million. The four other Grade 1 winners – Flat Out, Private Zone, Verrazano, and Capo Bastone – are running for the winner’s share of $750,000. Clearly Now, Laugh Track, and Forty Tales are running for the winner’s share of the base purse of $500,000.

Goldencents will be the 120-pound starting highweight. Flat Out, who worked four furlongs in 48 seconds at Payson Park, is next at 119, followed by Groupie Doll and Private Zone, both at 118, Verrazano (117), Laugh Track (116), Capo Bastone, Clearly Now, and Forty Tales at 115 each.