Ellis renames Gardenia for champ Groupie Doll

Ellis Park has re-named its signature stakes race after an Eclipse Award-winning mare that once dominated it.

Starting with the 2015 running, the Grade III Gardenia will be known as the Groupie Doll. She won twice at the Henderson, Ky., track, with the 2011 Gardenia by three lengths her first stakes victory.

"Everybody I spoke with thought it was the right thing to do," said Dan Bork, Ellis' racing secretary. "As much as I hate to change the name of the Gardenia, if there's one horse that deserves it – a mare – it would be her."

Bred and trained by William "Buff" Bradley, Groupie Doll went on to win the 2012 and 2013 Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Sprint. After both seasons, she earned champion female sprinter honors.

The chestnut mare retired from racing with a career record of 12 wins in 32 starts. Her earnings measured $2.6 million, according to Equibase.com, before she sold for $3.1 million at the Keeneland November Breeding Stock Sale.

Now a broodmare, Groupie Doll delivered her first foal, by Tapit, on March 5.

"Obviously, somebody was going to have a race named after that horse," Bork said, "and I think that place should be Ellis Park – where she trained and raced and really got her career started."

Named for the flower in the winner's garland, the Gardenia was first contested in 1982 and earned graded status in 1999. This year's race for fillies and mares 3 years old and up runs on Aug. 8.