Pocahontas a Stretch for Juvenile Fillies

Serengeti Empress impressed last time out when she won the Aug. 19 Ellis Park Debutante Stakes by 13 1/2 lengths. The waters get deeper this time around for the daughter of Alternation  as she is scheduled to face 11 rivals going two turns in Churchill Downs' Pocahontas Stakes (G2).

The $200,000, 1 1/16-mile event is the last of three stakes on the Sept. 15 program under the Twin Spires and offers a "Win and You're In" slot in the Nov. 2 Tito's Handmade Vodka Breeder's Cup Juvenile Fillies (G1) and 10 points to the winner toward next year's Longines Kentucky Oaks (G1).

Tom Amoss trains Joel Politi's Serengeti Empress, and top rider Corey Lanerie gets a return call. Lanerie knows the Churchill layout well and has won two of the last three runnings of the Pocahontas, aboard Dothraki Queen (2015) and Daddys Lil Darling (2016).

Serengeti Empress has tried graded company before, finishing fourth behind Catherinethegreat in the Schuylerville Stakes (G3) at Saratoga Race Course in July. Amoss admitted he was disappointed in her performance at the Spa and said rider Javier Castellano dropped his whip and "quit riding her" in the lane.

"I'm really excited about her," Amoss told the Churchill Downs media team. "We came back quickly to run in the Schuylerville after breaking her maiden in her first start. It was one of those races that everything went wrong.

"She's a really, really good horse. It's an opportunity for us, as a 'Win and You're In,' to get a berth in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies, and just as importantly, that race is right here at Churchill Downs."

A $70,000 purchase at last year's Keeneland September Yearling Sale, she is the first foal out of the unraced Bernardini  mare Havisham.

Another filly with plenty of experience is Mark Norman and Norman Stables' Taylor's Spirit, who is 3-for-3 in her young career. The daughter of Algorithms  broke her maiden by 13 3/4 lengths going five furlongs at Prairie Meadows July 8, then crushed her foes in the six-furlong Prairie Gold Lassie Stakes two weeks later. Shipped to Louisiana Downs, the bay filly took the Sept. 2 Happy Ticket Stakes on turf by 3 1/4 lengths.

Trainer Scott Gelner—who has eight stalls at Churchill for the meet—will not make the trip to Louisville but will instead renew his wedding vows with his wife, Felicia

Another local, Saved At Dawn, figures in the mix. Ike and Dawn Thrash's homebred Super Saver  filly, from the barn of Brad Cox, is out of Third Dawn. In 2009, Third Dawn finished second in the Santa Anita Oaks (G1) and won Del Mar's Torrey Pines Stakes, and the following year she ran second in Churchill's Chilukki Stakes (G2). Saved At Dawn was a gate-to-wire maiden winner at a mile Aug. 24 at Indiana Grand.

Both of Lanerie's Pocahontas wins came for trainer Ken McPeek, who has Walking L Thoroughbreds' Lightscameraaction in the field Saturday. The filly from the first crop of Will Take Charge  has made three of five starts on turf and will wheel back off a runner-up effort Sept. 1 in the one-mile Exacta Systems Juvenile Fillies Stakes at Kentucky Downs.

Entries: Pocahontas S. (G2)

Churchill Downs, Saturday, September 15, 2018, Race 11

• Grade II
• 1 1/16m
• Dirt
• $200,000
• 2 yo Fillies
• 5:57 PM (local)

PP	Horse	Jockey	Wgt	Trainer	M/L
1	1Serengeti Empress (KY)	Corey J. Lanerie	120	Thomas M. Amoss	5/2
2	2Love My Honey (KY)	Julien R. Leparoux	118	Michael J. Maker	6/1
3	3My Wynter Rose (KY)	Cory Orm	118	Tommy C. Short	50/1
4	4Profound Legacy (KY)	Brian Joseph Hernandez, Jr.	118	Ian R. Wilkes	20/1
5	5Splashy Kisses (KY)	Drayden Van Dyke	118	Doug F. O'Neill	4/1
6	6Lightscameraaction (KY)	Robby Albarado	118	Kenneth G. McPeek	20/1
7	7Include Edition (KY)	James Graham	118	Vickie L. Foley	30/1
8	8Two Dozen Roses (KY)	Ricardo Santana, Jr.	118	Todd A. Pletcher	6/1
9	9It Justhitthe Wire (KY)	Joseph Rocco, Jr.	118	Kiaran P. McLaughlin	6/1
10	10Taylor's Spirit (KY)	Shaun Bridgmohan	120	Scott Gelner	8/1
11	11Saved At Dawn (KY)	Fernando De La Cruz	118	Brad H. Cox	15/1
12	12Tapping Pearl (KY)	Florent Geroux	118	Mark E. Casse	10/1