Buff Bradley | Horse Racing Free Tips

Father’s Day: Churchill Horsemen Share Their Favorite Lessons From Dad

There are many second and third generation trainers and horse people on the backside of Churchill Downs. In honor of Father's Day, the Churchill media team asked several what advice or life lessons they have learned from their father:

Trainer Buff Bradley (son of late owner/breeder Fred Bradley): “One of the key things my dad taught me about horses was to have patience. When a horse needs time off, give them the time they need. In the end, the horses will reward you.”

Breeders' Cup Communications and Social Media Manager Hayley Amoss (daughter of trainer Tom Amoss): “He always tells my sister (Ashley) and me is that life is cyclical. It's not a linear path to success and you will have highs and lows. When you have the highs, take a step back and appreciate the moments with those you love, and when you're in the lows, grind it out because times will get better.”

Jockey Declan Carroll (son of assistant trainer David Carroll): “He taught me to always work hard and be positive. No matter how things may be going in life or riding, keep a positive attitude and work hard. Things are not given, they are earned. He gave me the opportunity to grow up from a very young age and learn from the start. If it wasn't for him I would be completely lost. He's there for all my ups and downs. He's my biggest critic and supporter.”

Trainer Norm Casse (son of trainer Mark Casse): “Dad always treats everyone with respect and I try to do the same. I feel like that, above many other things, is the most important thing he's taught me in life. Horse racing wise, the list would be too long.”

Trainer Greg Foley (son of late trainer Dravo Foley): “He taught me everything about being a horseman. My sister (Vickie Foley) and I grew up on the backside with him and he gave us the knowledge about horses and this sport.”

Assistant trainer Travis Foley and MagnaWave Specialist Alex Foley (sons of trainer Greg Foley) via joint text: “Of course, the easy answer is he taught us his sense of style. Jokes aside, he's showed us how to work hard, handle your business, treat people well and just try to not get too high or low depending on how the racing Gods may be treating you. He's been a great example of controlling what you can and being very consistent in everything you do.”

Jockey Chris Landeros (son of exercise rider Manny Landeros): “Throughout the ups and downs of our job, my dad always taught me to never give up. We go through many good times and bad but throughout it all he's always been consistent telling me never to give up.”

Jockey agent Jake Romans (son of trainer Dale Romans): “He's taught me so much in my life and continues to do so every day. When I first became an agent I remember him telling me to always keep an even temperament. There are many highs and lows of this sport and never get too high with the highs or too low with the lows.”

Jockey agent Brodie Wilkes (son of trainer Ian Wilkes): “He has always taught me to never stop learning. Every day that goes by you can learn something new. Then, he would always joke that the quicker I learn the sooner he can retire.”

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Buff Bradley, Local Hall of Famer

On the same day it was announced trainer Todd Pletcher had so deservedly been chosen as a member of racing's Hall of Fame, another conditioner confirmed to Daily Racing Form's Marty McGee that he was retiring at the conclusion of the Churchill Downs meeting next month.

This was the first year Pletcher was eligible and the announcement certainly came as a surprise to no one.

Pletcher is one of the most successful trainers of all time, having won more than 5,000 races and holding the earnings record (increasing every day) of more than $405 million.

Last Friday, he sent out Malathaat to win the grade I Kentucky Oaks, his fourth victory in that race. He has won the grade I Kentucky Derby twice and saddled the winners of 11 Breeders' Cup races.

Pletcher has trained 11 champions, won 166 grade I races and been the leader at the conclusion of 60 race meetings at various racetracks.

The 53-year-old has been voted the Eclipse Award as the sport's leading trainer seven times: 2004-07, 2010, 2013 and 2014.

Buff Bradley, on the other hand, will never be nominated for the Hall of Fame, located in the National Museum of Racing in Saratoga Springs, NY. But if his hometown of Frankfort, Ky, of which I am a native and resident, had a Hall of Fame, his inclusion would be a no-brainer.

Located between Lexington and Louisville, Kentucky's capital city is full of racing fans and, like many of the state's towns, after horses and bourbon, well, what else really matters.

Buff Bradley and I both grew up in Frankfort the sons of prominent attorneys who also had a penchant for politics.

My father, Herb Liebman, was in law school at the University of Kentucky when he met Fred Bradley, then an undergraduate student. They became close friends and would remain so for more than half a century. Fred Bradley and I had something in common, both of us earning our degrees in journalism.

Bradley took a short detour before law school. Having graduated from UK with designation as a Distinguished Air Force Reserve Officers Training Corp graduate, he headed off for military service before returning to UK to attend law school. Following active duty, he would spend 30 years in the Air National Guard, retiring as Gen. Bradley.

My dad was a police court judge, served four terms on the county school board, and worked tirelessly in state and local political races.

Bradley served as Franklin County Judge and for 18 years was a Kentucky State Senator. We joked about how he owned a small trucking company named “Fred's Fast Freight.”

Above all else, however, Fred Bradley loved his farm and his Thoroughbred horses. He bred on a small scale, never spending much on stud fees and foaling the mares himself.

That is until he had children and they could help with the farm chores.

Some wondered if young Buff Bradley could really train horses or if his father simply wanted him to head in that direction when he took out his license in 1993. Those who knew the family were not surprised when Buff quickly silenced the naysayers.

Many winners came over the years but in June, 2004 the first “big” score occurred, when homebred Brass Hat (Prized) took the Grade II Ohio Derby.

Brass Hat would become the family's first grade I winner when he won the 2006 Donn H. The gelding retired to live out his days at the Bradley's Indian Ridge Farm near Frankfort with 10 wins (nine stakes) in 40 starts, two track records, and $2,713,561 in earnings.

One of the proudest moments of my life was during Derby week 2010, when the city of Frankfort asked me to serve as emcee for Brass Hat Day. Fred Bradley was beaming, as he should have been. Brass Hat was there, too.

The very next year, the Bradley's newest star hit the racetrack. Groupie Doll (Bowman's Band), bred by Buff and Fred, was the champion sprinter in 2012 and 2013, years in which she won the grade I Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Sprint. For the father/son and longtime partners Carl Hurst and Brent Burns, she retired with 12 wins in 23 starts, two track records, and earnings of $2,648,850.

With Fred in failing health but seated on a bench outside the Keeneland sale pavilion, Groupie Doll was sold at the 2013 November sale for $3.1 million.

Proving he could win at the top level with a horse not bred by his family and raised at their farm, Buff guided Gunpower Farm's Divisidero (Kitten's Joy) to wins on three Kentucky Derby undercards. He won the grade II American Turf in 2015 and the next two years scored in the grade I Woodford Reserve Turf Classic.

And who could forget possibly Buff's favorite horse, The Player (by Street Hero), who in 2018 won the GIII Mineshaft S. and subsequently broke both sesamoids in the New Orleans Handicap. The Player, bred by Fred and Buff Bradley and Hurst, had also destroyed his suspensory apparatus. But because of the love between Buff and The Player, the trainer went to extreme lengths to save the horse nicknamed “Angus.”

Fred Bradley was 85 when he died May 20, 2016. He was happiest spending a sultry summer day not at Saratoga but at the “Pea Patch”–Ellis Park. He had 60 years of The Blood-Horse stacked on shelves in the upstairs of his home.

Buff Bradley's world changed when his father died. But with 575 wins to his credit and the aforementioned stars in the stable, he achieved much on the racetrack.

Now, because of various reasons, he has decided to call it a career.

At only 57, Bradley plans to remain a small owner and breeder and perhaps find someone willing to give him a job at a racetrack or within an industry organization.

To those in Frankfort, Ky., he doesn't have to achieve anything else. He's a Hall of Famer.

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Buff Bradley To Step Away From Training At End Of Churchill Downs’ Meet

The conditioner of racing luminaries Brass Hat and Groupie Doll, Buff Bradley told the Daily Racing Form on Wednesday that he will retire from training Thoroughbreds at the end of Churchill Downs' Spring Meet. The 57-year-old plans to remain in the industry as a small-scale breeder, while seeking a way to help horsemen on the front side of the racetrack.

“Things have changed in the business,” Bradley told DRF, “but beyond that, when my father died almost five years ago, that really changed things for me personally. I love the horses, and I love training, but too many things are different now in my own particular situation. We've settled my dad's estate, my three kids are older now, the financial aspect of the game can be very difficult, and it's almost impossible to get good help on the track anymore … it was just time to make this move.”

Brass Hat, a gelding bred and owned by his father, drew the admiration of racing fans with a track record-setting victory in the G1 Donn Handicap in 2006. Later that summer he fractured a sesamoid, but was able to return to the races. He competed through his 9-year-old season, winning the G3 Sycamore at Keeneland in 2009 in his penultimate start. Overall, Brass Hat won 10 of his 40 starts for earnings of over $2.1 million.

Groupie Doll is a filly Bradley and his father bred together. She won back-to-back editions of the Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Sprint in 2012 and 2013, earning Eclipse Awards for each of those seasons. Overall, Groupie Doll won 12 of her 23 starts to earn $2.6 million.

Divisidero was another Bradley star, winning a graded stakes race for three straight years on the Kentucky Derby undercard: the G2 American Turf in 2015, and the G1 Woodford Reserve Turf Classic (now Old Forester) in 2016 and 2017.

Bradley also went above and beyond to save the life of another homebred graded stakes winner, The Player. Winner of the G2 Fayette and G3 Mineshaft, The Player suffered severe injuries in a race in early 2018, and required months of hospitalization including several surgeries. He recovered from the ordeal and is retired to Bradley's farm in Frankfort, Ky.

Overall, Bradley has saddled the winners of 575 races for earnings of over $19 million.

Letter to the Editor: Macagone’s Tribe

This past Saturday, we witnessed some great racing and stellar racehorses, but a group of horsepeople who work in racing were focused on the evening's 4th race at Turfway Park.

A few weeks earlier, a fellow “racetracker” and friend had posted on her social media page that she needed help. Laura Tilbury, “Tils” to everyone who knows her, has worked in racing for four decades, as an exercise rider and assistant trainer in New York and Florida. She is spending the winter in Aiken with her own horse Jack, but as always, she keeps a close watch on a few of her old favorite horses that she has worked with in the past. Tils had gotten an alert that one of her favorites, 10-year-old Macagone, was entered in a $5,000 claiming race at Turfway Park. Tils had galloped “Mac” years ago and fell in love with this classy turf stakes horse. His career began in 2014 and after a successful run for a number of trainers who had him, winning 11 of his 47 starts, earning Beyers of over 100 in 19 of those races and $654,981 in earnings for his owners and trainers, here he was in a bottom-level claiming. Tils knew it was time to help him.

She made contact immediately with his current trainer asking to buy him before the race, but unfortunately it was a hard `no.' She had already asked her Facebook clan to help with raising the funds to buy him and since that wasn't going to happen, she wanted to claim him and the wave of the tribe began. The power of the horse community is a beautiful thing. Within a few days, the money was promised–$20, $50, $100, and more–all from those in the racing industry workforce. Exercise riders, grooms, retired backstretch workers, trainers and others were contributing to help this old warrior retire. An upstate New York nonprofit racehorse rescue, Inherit the Gold Foundation, offered him a home to retire at Haven Oaks Farms. Morriseys Horse Pullmans was quick to offer him a courtesy van ride from Kentucky to New York, and many others asked how they could help. Then the morning of the race, he was scratched.

Tils was devastated; what would happen now? Another week passed and then came the alert that Mac was back in the entries, again for $5,000 at Turfway. The tribe regrouped, a trainer in Kentucky answered the call to make the claim and the hope and love from Mac's Tribe proved to be stronger than even imagined. As everyone was ready to watch the fourth race that night, praying all going in favor for Team Mac, Tils got a 4 p.m. phone call that Mac had again been scratched.

As it was a late scratch, she was nervous and decided to just make the call to the trainer right away and try to get him. The conversation was short and sweet. She told him she wanted him to retire, she had someone to come get him that evening, the ride to his new home was already in place and with that, the trainer decided to give him to Tils for free.

It was sweeter than ever imagined. Just like that, Buff Bradley, who had kindly offered to help in Kentucky, walked Mac from the stall where he was preparing for the race over to his barn. Mac was safe and on his way to a well-deserved new life. After a few days with Buff, Mac left Kentucky last night and has just arrived at Haven Oaks Farm. He walked off the van with his regal head high, almost knowing that he had a whole tribe of love with him. The folks at the farm were delighted to meet him and he happily received a blanket and mints. He is settling in very well and has already had a roll in the round pen at his new home. Mac will begin a new chapter in his life, one that all racehorses deserve.

The big hearted horse and his angel Tils are so grateful to the racing community. The heart and passion of people who work in racing is undeniable. We care to no end, the majority would do anything for the horse and this tale of a 10-year-old racehorse is proof. Actually, almost daily you can find someone from the racetrack community posting on social media about a horse that needs a home, one who needs to be rescued from a kill pen, and every day, racetrackers are putting their hands and hearts out to help. THIS IS HORSE RACING, the backbone and heart of a sport at its finest.

–Amanda Roxborough

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