Serengeti Empress rules Kentucky Oaks

It was almost the race that has never been.

After coach Tom Amoss sent Serengeti Empress in the Fair Grounds Oaks (G2) March 23 at Twinspires.com Fair Grounds Race Course & Slots, his heart was in his throat when his sports girl alternation was shot in the middle of the race.

After traveling the New Orleans circuit after a long bleed, Serengeti Empress was scuppered and Amoss was suddenly faced with the possibility that his plan to direct the dark bay to a start in the Longines Kentucky Oaks (G1) on 3 May to Churchill Downs were no longer plausible.

Taking a moment to think about it, Amoss decided to do what had been very useful to him over and over again since he started training there over 30 years ago: listening to his horse.

Six weeks later, Amoss crosses the runway under the historic Twin Spiers and embraces owner Joel Politi while he hoisted the trophy in the honor of Serengeti Empress, final winner of the 145th Oaks .

"All the credit goes to Tom," said Politi. "I think Tom is the greatest coach in the world and I'm glad he won this race, and what we've been through emotionally in the last six weeks is a lot. we, it's a really special horse.We would run just to run, we would take it every day and she is an amazing athlete.She told us that she was well, repetitively, en route and if she did not do it, we were both very attached to and, once again, every day she showed us she was fine. "

On April 23, the Empress of Serengeti proved that she was again in action and fired five rounds on Churchill's main track in: 58 1/5, the fastest of the 30 distance drives. From that moment, Amoss knew that he had made the right choice.

Although Serengeti Empress was not the favorite of Friday's 14 people, Amoss was confident that the filly would be able to fend for herself. But it was not a trip without incident.

Serengeti's empress José Ortiz immediately broke free, but the crowd at Churchill Downs was gasping for air. Positive spirit was tight at first by Walking on the roadway and cut heels. The filly stumbled shortly after leaving position 6 and fell, overthrowing jockey Manny Franco, before standing and galloping along the course. Walking on the roadway, who came from the seventh hole, was disqualified in 13th position after the race by the stewards, who ruled that she had taken the path of Positive Spirit and forced the filly to pass.

After the fall of Positive Spirit, Franco left the track under his own power and the filly was overtaken by a runner. Dr. Al Ruggles, veterinarian on duty at the American Association of Equine Practitioners, said that Positive Spirit was able to return to the barn and that it did not seem to have any significant problems. He complimented Lee Lockwood and Greg Blasi for quickly catching the filly before she reached the turn of the club.

As this tragedy unfolded in the front, Ortiz summoned the natural speed of her filly, tilted Serengeti Empress towards the rail and established control. Watching the filly take off fractions of: 23:25 and: 46,65h on the first half mile, Amoss said that he knew his filly was running at his potential.

"Downstairs when we set up a half-mile opening very fast, my wife turned to me and said:" It's too fast, "and I replied: "This is not for her, it is not for her. "When my filly is good, she's really good."

Keeping an advantage of two lengths when they reached the mark of six crowns in 1: 11.26, Serengeti Empress was the target. Liora cut a path between rivals and mounted in a position to challenge. Redesigned for the start, Liora mobilized all the energy she had to chase the favorite. But the effort came too late and Serengeti Empress crossed the 1 3/4 approach ahead of Liora and jockey Channing Hill.

"Dude, that was just heartbreaking," Hill said. "She ran so well, I thought we had it, it was an amazing race." (Coach) Wayne (Catalano) had prepared it so well, and we were almost there. "

The final time for the 1 1/8-mile dirt test was 1: 50.17 on a fast track. Serengeti Empress, defeated at 13-1, earned $ 28, $ 14.80 and $ 9.60 on a $ 2 bet.

"Tom gave me a lot of confidence in it," Ortiz said. "I had never been there before, and he said to me," Go up with her as if you had her. " "And that's what I did, I got out of there, I knew her best races were in the lead, and I was just trying to put her at ease." I do not care if I went a little too fast, was comfortable, I was comfortable with that. "

It took another 5 1/2 lengths in third place. Lady Apple, followed by Champagne no matter who and favored Bellafina in fifth. Street Band, Chocolate kisses, Emotion movement, Jeltrin, For a ride, Flor de La Mar, Rider jumbledand Jaywalk have completed the order of arrival.

Serengeti Empress has won five of his eight starts with winnings of $ 1,037,120. The Kentucky Oaks were the third note of the filly. She won the Pocahontas Stakes (G2) at Churchill Downs at age 2 and won her sophomore debut at the Rachel Alexandra Stakes (G2) at the Fair Grounds.

"When I looked at her today, she looked a lot like the Pocahontas of last year," Amoss said. "She took the lead at the back, as in the Pocahontas last year, when she was two years old here on this track." She was very very fast but her ears tell the story, come and go, you know you have something below you. "

Raised in Kentucky by Tri Eques Bloodstock on the Bernardini The Havisham Pond, Serengeti Empress was purchased by Politi for $ 70,000 from the Brookdale Sales Shipment at the Keeneland September Yearling 2017 sale.

Regarding his unique nickname, Politi said that all the credit goes to his daughters.

"So I have four girls, four adorable girls," Politi said. "My No. 3 daughter, Annie, is hooked to Toto's song" Africa. "She played it and killed and sang it. kissed and we had just bought the Serengeti Empress, and in this one it is written: "Kilimanjaro rises like an Olympus over the Serengeti." So we named it Empress Serengeti. "

Friday's win marked Kentucky Oaks' first win for Amoss, Ortiz and Politi. Amoss saddled only two starters in the Oaks. The first was Venus Valentine (2016), who finished 12th after falling behind on the pitch and failing to rally. The second was Chocolate Martini (2018), who ran fifth.

For Amoss, it's three decades of hard work, a talented filly, and the decision to let the horse warn the coach when he's ready to run.

"I've never won such a big race of my life," said Amoss, "and I've been coaching since 1987. I've won many races, but none are like that. It's just a different experience. (Serengeti Empress) is a great athlete and I'm very happy to have her. "

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