Groupie Doll closes career in Hurricane Bertie

By: SPORTS NETWORK

Hallandale Beach, FL (SportsNetwork.com) - Champion sprinter Groupie Doll will close out her award winning career with a start in Sunday's $150,000 Hurricane Bertie Stakes at Gulfstream Park. The race will be broadcast as part of "The Jockey Club Tour on Fox" by Fox Sports.

Owned by Mandy Pope's Whisper Hill Farm, the two-time Eclipse Award winner will take on six other fillies and mares in the 6 1/2-furlong sprint. The 6-year-old chestnut mare will start from the inside post with Rajiv Maragh aboard her one last time.

Pope bought the champion mare last November from an ownership group that included trainer Buff Bradley.

"It's not about the money. Mandy really does care about her horses," said Bradley, who bred the 6-year-old in partnership with his father, Fred. "On paper, Groupie Doll looks like she should win, but there's a reason they put them all in the starting gate. We still need things to go well."

"Although this is going to be her last start and we'll hate to see her go, we're really excited to see her run Sunday."

Groupie Doll won her second straight Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Sprint with jockey Rajiv Maragh at Santa Anita on Nov. 2. That victory secured her a second Eclipse Award as champion Female Sprinter.

In her last race of 2013, Groupie Doll finished fifth in the Cigar Mile at Aqueduct on Nov. 30 one year after finishing second by a nose in the race to Stay Thirsty.

The mare has earned $2,528,850 in 22 lifetime starts with 11 wins, four seconds and four thirds.

Here is the field for the Hurricane Bertie from the rail out: Groupie Doll, Rajiv Maragh; Jamaican Smoke, Jose Lezcano; My Due Process, Joe Bravo; Distortion, Luis Saez; Five Star Momma, Abdiel Jaen; Heart Stealer, Javier Castellano and Wildcat Lily, Jose Alvarez.

Post-time will be approximately 2:03 p.m. (ET) for the Hurricane Bertie.