Groupie Doll Sizzles in Humana Distaff
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Fred Bradley, trainer Buff Bradley, Carl Hurst and Brent
Burns’ Groupie Doll made shambles of the field in winning the 26th running
of the $334,500 Humana Distaff (Grade I) for fillies and mares by 7 ¼
lengths in track record time.
Ridden by Rajiv Maragh,
Groupie Doll ran the seven furlongs on a fast main track in 1:20.44 to break
the track record of 1:20.50 set by Alannan on May 5, 2001 and the stakes
record of 1:20.70 established by Dream Supreme in 2001.
It was the second consecutive Grade
I victory for Groupie Doll, who had won the Vinery Madison at Keeneland on
April 12. Left in her wake were the 1-2 finishers from last fall’s Breeders’
Cup Filly & Mare Sprint (GI) here, Musical Romance and Switch.
Mildly Offensive led the field of
nine sprinters through the first quarter-mile in :22.42 with Groupie Doll in
closest pursuit. Maragh moved Groupie Doll to the lead on the far turn and
poured it on in the lane without being threatened.
A 4-year-old Kentucky-bred daughter
of Bowman’s Band out of the Silver Deputy mare Deputy Doll, Groupie Doll earned
$199,094 with the victory and increased her earnings to $688,850 with a record
of 13-6-3-2.
Groupie Doll returned $8.20, $4.40
and $3.20. Musical Romance, ridden by Juan Leyva, returned $5.40 and $4
in finishing 5 ¼ lengths in front of Magical Feeling, who finished third
under Roberto Alvarado Jr., and paid $5.80 to show.
Mildly Offensive finished another
three-quarters of a length back in fourth and was followed in order by Switch, Sassy
Image, Salty Strike, Hot Summer and Fantasy of Flight.
HUMANA
DISTAFF QUOTES
RAJIV MARAGH (jockey, Groupie Doll,
first) –“She broke for me real
well, which is what I wanted. She went right out and put me in good position.
She wanted to go at the three-eighths pole, but the plan wasn’t to do that
right then. But she was doing it so willingly, I didn’t want to take that away
from her. When she moved she really took off.
“Coming down the stretch when I was
so far ahead, I felt wonderful. I’m so glad to have a horse like this that
makes you look so good as a rider.”
BUFF BRADLEY (trainer, Groupie
Doll, first) -- I told Rajiv (Maragh) to put her in
the race early, but he got to the front earlier than I thought he would. When I
saw that, I said, 'She's going to gallop from here.' Finishing has never been
an issue with her. I think she was even more impressive today than she was at
Keeneland (in winning the Vinery Madison). She was just dragging Rajiv out
there. The blinkers have really helped. I think she's starting to figure things
out. She'll get a short break now. I'm guessing at least six weeks, but I need
to talk to my partners. We haven't even thought about a next race because we
knew that win, lose or draw, she was going to get a break.”
JUAN LEYVA (jockey, Musical Romance,
second) -- “I had a really good trip. I had
no trouble at all. I was able to stalk them. That filly just beat us today. She
ran a freakish race.”
BILL KAPLAN (trainer, Musical
Romance, second) – “I’m very happy. She had an
outside post which forced her to be out a little bit. Juan (Leyva) rode a great
race. The filly ran a great race. They broke the track record.”
ROBERTO ALVARADO, JR. (jockey,
Magical Feeling, third) – “She’s a
nice mare. She was pretty competitive today. We got an inside post and it was a
little tough for us, but it worked out pretty well. I went around horses. It
wasn’t the best trip. The winner and the second were too much for her.”
ALLEN IWINSKI (trainer, Magical Feeling, third) -- “As always,
this mare gave it her best. She was very well compromised by two things today.
One, she was breaking from the one hole out of the chute going seven-eighths;
that’s hasn’t been the greatest place to be at this meet. Second, it’s
definitely been a speed-biased race track the last couple of days. She was
about four lengths off the lead going into the turn with no where to go.
Roberto backed her up and got to her to the outside. She lost ground and was
five or six wide and she still persevered and kept coming. We’re pretty proud
of her performance. Even though she did get beat, it almost felt like she won.
She has been bred to Tapit, this is probably going to be her last race and
succeeded in being Grade 1 stakes-placed.”
MIKE SMITH (jockey, Switch, fifth)
-- “She did fine for her first race
back from the Breeders’ Cup [November at Churchill Downs]. She’ll get a lot out
of this race and will be much better next time.”
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