LOUISVILLE, Ky. – William “Buff” Bradley, whose exploits with Brass Hat and Groupie Doll warmed the hearts of untold thousands of racing fans, has announced his retirement from training, effective shortly after the Churchill Downs spring meet ends June 26. Bradley, 57, said early Wednesday at his Churchill barn that “a multitude of factors” entered into his decision to disband a stable that typically housed 30 or more active runners. “Things have changed in the business,” he said, “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.” Bradley has 575 wins in a career dating to 1993, with Brass Hat, Groupie Doll, Divisidero, and The Player being his top performers. Brass Hat was the catalyst for Bradley and his late father, Fred, during a remarkable span that took them to the top of the racing world with a homebred, Groupie Doll, a two-time divisional champion and back-to-back winner of the Breeders Cup Filly and Mare Sprint at Santa Anita in 2012-13. The Bradleys and their partners sold Groupie Doll, an earner of more than $2.6 million, for $3.1 million at auction in November 2013. “If it wasn’t for Brass Hat, we probably wouldn’t have had the means to come up with a horse as good as Groupie Doll,” said Bradley. Brass Hat earned more than $2.1 million in winning 10 races, all but one of them stakes, including the Grade 2 New Orleans and Grade 1 Donn handicaps in 2006. The homebred gelding won the Grade 3 Sycamore at Keeneland in October 2010 in his penultimate start, making him the second 9-year-old to win a graded race at the Lexington track, following Rochester in 2005, while evoking a raucous outpouring of support for his local connections. So, too, did the second Breeders’ Cup triumph by Groupie Doll leave few dry eyes in the house. With his father unable to attend while in failing health, Bradley became overwhelmed by emotion and was barely able to speak in a televised post-race interview. “Being with my dad for so many of our good horses, it was always a great time,” he recalled. “My joy was him enjoying the last 10 years of his life with some nice horses, traveling with him, not having any pressure with your dad as the owner. I knew nobody was calling him trying to get him out from underneath of me.” Divisidero, owned by the Gunpowder Farms of Tom Keithley, won major races for Bradley on three straight Kentucky Derby cards – the Grade 2 American Turf in 2015, and the Grade 1 Woodford Reserve Turf Classic (now Old Forester) in 2016-17. “That was pretty neat,” said Bradley. The Player, another homebred owned with longtime friend and client Carl Hurst, won the Grade 3 Mineshaft with a 100 Beyer Speed Figure before breaking down in his next race, the New Orleans Handicap, on March 24, 2018. Bradley pulled out all the stops – financially and otherwise – to save the life of “Angus,” as Bradley calls him, in what evolved into a lengthy saga with a happy ending. The Player, now 8, is thriving on the Bradley family farm, Indian Ridge, in Frankfort, Ky. Bradley will stay in racing as a small-scale breeder and owner while also hoping to gain employment with a track or other racing-related entity. “What I’d like to do is help horsemen on the frontside,” said Bradley, a college graduate who is in relatively good health after having undergone two heart ablations in recent times. Bradley said he leaves training with few regrets, having attained a level of success that not many others in his profession ever realize. “It’s kind of sad, yes, but I have had a pretty good run,” he said. “You always wish you could’ve had a horse in the Kentucky Derby, but maybe one that I breed or own will be there someday. I’ll miss this very much, but moving forward, I hope to enjoy my next venture, too.” Full field for Friday feature An oversubscribed field of filly-mare turf sprinters is entered in the only allowance on a nine-race Friday card at Churchill, with a couple of turn-back candidates, Osaka Girl and Joy of Painting, among the logical contenders in a very well-matched group. Osaka Girl and Joy of Painting both led a long way before fading in their respective last starts going two turns, and both appear to fit well in race 8, a $102,000, first-level race at five furlongs. Another forecast of dry weather likely means the race will stay on the grass as scheduled. First post is 12:45 p.m. Eastern, with the nominal feature going at 4:22. The weekend feature is the $110,000 Mamzelle, a turf sprint for 3-year-old fillies on Saturday.