Horses

Groupie Doll's first foal premature, under care at Rood & Riddle

By Alicia Wincze Hughes - awincze@herald-leader.com
PARTING WITH A CHAMP: Exercise rider Jada Schlenk gave Groupie Doll a kiss goodbye Nov. 6 before the mare went to the sales ring, where she sold for $3.1 million during the Keeneland November Breeding Stock Sale. Fred and Buff Bradley had raised and raced the two-time Breeders’ Cup champ before deciding to sell her to help keep their small horse operation going.
PARTING WITH A CHAMP: Exercise rider Jada Schlenk gave Groupie Doll a kiss goodbye Nov. 6 before the mare went to the sales ring, where she sold for $3.1 million during the Keeneland November Breeding Stock Sale. Fred and Buff Bradley had raised and raced the two-time Breeders’ Cup champ before deciding to sell her to help keep their small horse operation going. Herald-Leader

Champion Groupie Doll delivered her first foal, a colt by Tapit, prematurely on March 5 and the foal is receiving care at Rood & Riddle Equine Hospital, Wayne Sweezey of Timber Town Stable said Saturday.

Groupie Doll had a due date of March 11. The two-time Eclipse Award-winning daughter of Bowman's Band did not suffer any post foaling complications herself and is slated to be bred back to Tapit in the coming days.

Sweezey, whose Timber Town Stable boards mares on behalf of Mandy Pope, owner of Groupie Doll, said the Tapit foal was immediately rushed to Rood & Riddle and is on a nurse mare.

"He was a little premature and Ms. Pope is going to give him every chance to survive and be a viable individual," Sweezey said. "They have done a great job over at the clinic. He is getting better and better but because he was early, all the bones weren't developed. Hopefully he will go on and develop and be a normal foal."

Bred and campaigned for most of her career by Frankfort-based Fred and Buff Bradley, Groupie Doll won 12 of 23 career starts including four Grade I races. The 7-year-old mare captured back-to-back editions of the Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Sprint, winning in 2012 by 41/2 lengths and defending her title in 2013 with a half-length victory.

Both of her Breeders' Cup wins cemented year-end honors for the popular distaffer as she was an overwhelming pick for champion female sprinter in 2012 and earned the Eclipse Award again the following season.

Days after her second Breeders' Cup triumph, Groupie Doll was purchased by Pope from the Bradleys and their partners for $3.1 million at the 2013 Keeneland November breeding stock sale.

She would go on to make two more starts in Pope's colors, finishing fourth in the 2013 Grade I Cigar Mile before capping her career with a 7-length win in the 2014 Grade III Hurricane Bertie Stakes at Gulfstream Park.

Groupie Doll retired with $2,648,850 in earnings.

This story was originally published March 28, 2015 at 5:56 PM with the headline "Groupie Doll's first foal premature, under care at Rood & Riddle."

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