Spelling Again May Race Next in Groupie Doll

Seajay Racing's Spelling Again, winner of the July 2 Princess Rooney Stakes (gr. II) at Gulfstream Park, could be headed to western Kentucky for the Aug. 8 Groupie Doll Stakes (gr. III) at Ellis Park.

Trainer Brad Cox, who won last year's Groupie Doll with Call Pat and will have up to 20 horses stabled at Ellis Park, said the 5-year-old Pennsylvania-bred mare by Awesome Again   could use the race as another stepping stone to the Breeders' Cup. The seven-furlong Princess Rooney is a Breeders' Cup Challenge "Win and You're In" qualifier for the Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Sprint (gr. I).

"The timing is good, and I think she'd like (the Ellis Park dirt)," Cox said. "You take it race by race. But being five years old, you look at Wavell Avenue; she won the (Filly & Mare Sprint) last year and got good at the right time. If she's good and doing great, we'll take a shot at Santa Anita."

The Groupie Doll is named for the Filly & Mare Sprint winner of 2012 and 2013 who was voted champion female sprinter both years. Groupie Doll won the 2011 Gardenia Stakes at Ellis Park and finished third in the event in 2013; the one-mile stakes around one-and-a-half turns was renamed the Groupie Doll in 2015.