Serengeti Empress Faces Salty Field in Apple Blossom
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Photo: Coady Photography
Serengeti Empress sprints away from the field to win the Azeri Stakes at Oaklawn Park
In a world in which normalcy seems like a utopian term, plans have pretty much fallen into place for Serengeti Empress.
After the 2019 Longines Kentucky Oaks (G1) winner ended her 3-year-old season with a third-place finish in the Longines Breeders' Cup Distaff (G1), trainer Tom Amoss and owner Joel Politi agreed on a road map that included racing in the Azeri Stakes (G2) at Oaklawn Park, followed by a return trip to Hot Springs, Ark., for the Apple Blossom Handicap (G1), a 1 1/16-mile test for fillies and mares that ranks as one of the best races in the division each spring.
"That was the plan all along," Amoss said.
Step one worked out just fine when the daughter of Alternation romped by 6 1/4 lengths on a sloppy track March 14 in the Azeri.
Step two has also taken shape as expected.
As the racing industry battles the spread of COVID-19, Oaklawn Park has been able to continue racing behind closed doors, and the Apple Blossom is one of a handful of graded stakes that has maintained its original spot on the calendar. It is, however, being contested for a reduced purse of $600,000 due to the changing economics.
The curveball is that because of the pandemic and the suspension of racing in New York, Kentucky, and California, Serengeti Empress will be tackling a much better field Saturday than the one Amoss envisioned in November.
While the grade 1 stakes has a roster of past winners that includes Zenyatta, Havre de Grace, Stellar Wind, Untapable and Midnight Bisou, field size was regularly limited in top-heavy editions of the race. Only six starters turned out a year ago when Midnight Bisou prevailed on her way to a championship season.
Yet on Saturday, Serengeti Empress will be one of 14 starters in a field featuring a bevy of graded stakes winners, sparking images of a certain fall race in Amoss' mind.
"The difference in this Apple Blossom and any other Apple Blossom is not so much the quality of the horses," Amoss said. "There have been some great horses who ran in this race, like Zenyatta. It's the depth of the quality. This is truly the Breeders' Cup Distaff in April. The only horse missing is Midnight Bisou."
The latter was given a short break after a runner-up finish in the Feb. 29 Saudi Cup in Saudi Arabia.
Serengeti Empress, purchased by Politi for $70,000 from the Brookdale Sales consignment at the 2017 Keeneland September Yearling Sale, is one of five grade 1 winners in the field, joining Ollie's Candy, Come Dancing, Street Band, and Ce Ce. Ten starters own a graded stakes win.
"It's a very salty field across the board. You can make a case that Saturday's race will be as good as the Breeders' Cup," said Michael McCarthy, who trains Beholder Mile Stakes (G1) winner Ce Ce for owner Bo Hirsch. "It figured to be a big field with a $1 million purse, but now that it's $600,000, it's the only game in town, so there's no one dropping out."
In a large field with a relatively short run to the first turn, the break will play a crucial role in the outcome, and there's one given in that regard. From post 11, Serengeti Empress and jockey Joe Talamo will make a determined bid for the early lead, much like she did in the Azeri, when she led by four lengths after an opening half-mile in :46.49 and avenged a loss in her previous start at 4, a half-length runner-up finish to Apple Blossom starter Lady Apple in the Jan. 26 Houston Ladies Classic Stakes (G3), when there was what Amoss called a "tactical mistake."
"Serengeti Empress is a filly who wins her races by using her speed out of the gate and getting separation. In the Sam Houston race, she made the lead so easily that they slowed it down, and the mistake was that we kept the rest of the field in the race," Amoss said. "I recognized that afterwards, and we're not doing that again. We're going to go the way she wants to go. It worked well in the Azeri."
Video: Azeri S. (G2)
How it will work in the Apple Blossom, where Serengeti Empress will tote high weight of 122 pounds, remains to be seen, thanks to the presence of Come Dancing, a grade 1 sprint winner, and the fleet Cookie Dough, plus a host of horses hoping to capitalize on demanding fractions.
"You have some crack sprinters in the race like Come Dancing, so the idea that we can create separation in this field with a legitimate pace is hard to imagine, but it doesn't change my game plan," Amoss said. "There's no secret to what we're going to do. We're going to go. We're going to leave the gate and go."
The speedy Serengeti Empress was a game second in the seven-furlong Test Stakes (G1) in August, finishing a half-length behind female sprint champ Covfefe and 8 3/4 lengths ahead of third-place finisher Bellafina. Amoss says future plans call for the daughter of the Bernardini mare Havisham bred by Tri Eques Bloodstock to stay at two turns leading up to the Breeders' Cup Distaff Nov. 7 at Keeneland.
"Joel Politi and I have discussed it at great lengths. When we mapped out a plan after the Distaff, it would be to keep her at two turns this year with the ultimate goal of having her ready to go in the Breeders' Cup Distaff, which will be her swan song," Amoss said. "She'll be retired at the end of the year."
Serengeti Empress has won six of 14 starts with earnings of $1,731,520.
McCarthy traveled to Oaklawn from California with his filly and was greeted with the challenge of post 14 for Saturday's race.
"They were not kind to us with the draw, but these things happen on big days with big races," said McCarthy, whose 4-year-old will tote 121 pounds. "Hopefully, she can find a spot to drop in. This was hanging in our mind ever since the Beholder, and she's trained great since then. I've brought a filly that's at the top of her game."
The homebred daughter of Elusive Quality who will be ridden by Victor Espinoza has won three of five starts but will be racing beyond a mile for the first time.
"I don't think the extra sixteenth will be a big concern," McCarthy said. "Breaking from the 14 hole will test her. The way she galloped out after the Beholder tells me she can handle the 1 1/16 miles."
Phoenix Thoroughbreds and Katie Rich Stables' Lady Apple beat Serengeti Empress in the Houston Ladies for her fifth graded stakes win but then finished 20 lengths behind in fifth in the Azeri. In five starts for trainer Steve Asmussen since finishing third behind Serengeti Empress in the Kentucky Oaks, her only two losses came on wet tracks.
The daughter of Curlin will break next to Ce Ce in post 13 and carry 119 pounds.
Ray Francis, Cindy Jones, Larry Jones, Medallion Racing, and My Race Horse Stable's Street Band (119 pounds, post 6) comes into the Apple Blossom seeking her first win since capturing the Cotillion Stakes (G1) for trainer Larry Jones four starts ago in September. She was third in the Houston Ladies and fourth in the Azeri in her past two starts and will be ridden once again by Sophie Doyle.
Street Band works April 13 at Oaklawn
Blue Devil Racing Stable's Come Dancing (120 pounds, post 4) will make her first start since finishing sixth in the Breeders' Cup Filly and Mare Sprint (G1), and the winner of last year's Ketel One Ballerina Stakes (G1) will also be making her initial start for Hall of Fame trainer D. Wayne Lukas. The 6-year-old Malibu Moon mare previously raced for trainer Carlos Martin, almost exclusively in New York, where there is currently no racing because of COVID-19. She has won at 1 1/16 miles, though around one turn.
Come Dancing has been training sharply since joining the D. Wayne Lukas string
Eclipse Thoroughbreds and Stetson Racing's Point of Honor (119 pounds, post 5) will try to put a string of second-place finishes behind her. She closed her 3-year-old campaign for trainer George Weaver with runner-up finishes in the Coaching Club American Oaks (G1) and Alabama Stakes (G1), then opened 2020 with a second in a March 7 handicap race at Tampa Bay Downs.
The Apple Blossom (5:16 p.m. CT post time) is the 10th race on an Oaklawn card that starts at 12:35 p.m.
Oaklawn Park, Saturday, April 18, 2020, Race 10Entries: Apple Blossom H. (G1)
PP
Horse
Jockey
Wgt
Trainer
M/L
1
1Ollie's Candy (KY)
Joel Rosario
120
John W. Sadler
12/1
2
2Coldwater (KY)
Walter De La Cruz
112
Peter Eurton
50/1
3
3Awe Emma (KY)
Corey J. Lanerie
115
Dallas Stewart
20/1
4
4Come Dancing (KY)
Florent Geroux
120
D. Wayne Lukas
3/1
5
5Point of Honor (KY)
Drayden Van Dyke
119
George Weaver
10/1
6
6Street Band (KY)
Sophie Doyle
119
J. Larry Jones
15/1
7
7Queen Nekia (FL)
David Cohen
115
Saffie A. Joseph, Jr.
20/1
8
8Saracosa (KY)
Martin Garcia
114
Cipriano Contreras
30/1
9
9Horologist (NJ)
Tyler Baze
116
Richard Baltas
15/1
10
10Cookie Dough (FL)
Abel Cedillo
118
Saffie A. Joseph, Jr.
10/1
11
11Serengeti Empress (KY)
Joseph Talamo
122
Thomas M. Amoss
4/1
12
12Go Google Yourself (KY)
Brian Joseph Hernandez, Jr.
120
Paul J. McGee
12/1
13
13Lady Apple (KY)
Ricardo Santana, Jr.
119
Steven M. Asmussen
15/1
14
14Ce Ce (KY)
Victor Espinoza
121
Michael W. McCarthy
7/2
