Distance Cutback for Serengeti Empress in Test

Looking at the three inside post positions for the $500,000 Longines Test Stakes (G1) suggests an early battle of speed on top of speed on top of speed.

While seven top 3-year-old fillies are expected Aug. 3 for the seven-furlong Test at Saratoga Race Course, all eyes figure to be on the inside posts early where frontrunning Longines Kentucky Oaks (G1) winner Serengeti Empress breaks from the rail, speedy three-time grade 1 winner Bellafina starts from post 2, and recent track record-setting sprinter Covfefe starts from post 3.

For Joel Politi's Serengeti Empress, the Test will be her shortest race since winning last year's Ellis Park Debutante Stakes, also contested at seven furlongs. Like in her longer races that followed, the daughter of Alternation  also proved fast and comfortable on the front end that day, drawing off to a 13 1/2 length score.

In Serengeti Empress's four stakes wins, she has led every step. Trained by Tom Amoss, Serengeti Empress enters off a runner-up finish June 8 in the one-turn mile Acorn Stakes (G1) at Belmont Park. Acorn winner Guarana has since secured a second straight grade 1 in the July 21 Coaching Club American Oaks at Saratoga. Despite the speedy fillies on each side of her in the gate, Amoss likes how his filly is going into Saturday's Test.

"She has done very well over the track and the cut back in distance isn't a concern based on her last performance," Amoss said. "She was challenged hard early in that race and she was able to sustain that challenge. There is a lot of speed in the race and that's the way it is, but I'm going to rely on her class and her speed associated with that class, and let her do that job. She knows how to do her job. We developed her, bought her as a yearling, and have been a part of her life from the moment she came into the barn. This would be very special if it were to happen."

In all three of Bellafina's grade 1 wins, the Quality Road  filly pressed an early leader before drawing off to victories by a combined 16 lengths. The third of those grade 1 scores, a 5 1/4-length romp in the April 6 Santa Anita Oaks at Santa Anita Park, led to the filly owned by Kaleem Shah being sent off as the 9-5 favorite in the Kentucky Oaks. But in that 1 1/8-mile test, Bellafina found herself in the back half of the field of 14 early and she never fired.

Trained by Simon Callaghan, Bellafina will be making her first start since the May 3 race. She worked four times in July—twice at Santa Anita and twice at Del Mar—including a bullet five-furlong move in :59 2/5 on the 13th at Santa Anita. Callaghan said the decision was made after the Oaks to give Bellafina some time off and she seemingly has thrived.

"We've been really happy with her," Callaghan said. "Her works have gone perfectly. She's always been a good work filly in the morning and that's continued to be the case. So far, everything has gone as well as to be expected."

LNJ Foxwoods' Covfefe has led at every call in her three career victories, including an 8 1/2-length score in the Adena Springs Miss Preakness Stakes (G3) at Pimlico Race Course, where she completed six furlongs in 1:07.70. Like the two accomplished horses to her inside, Covfefe enters off a loss—a third-place finish in the June 22 Roxelana Overnight Stakes at Churchill Downs—where she was sent off at 2-5 but faded to third after a pressured pace.

While Covfefe has started at a mile—a fourth-place finish in last year's Frizette Stakes (G1) at Belmont Park—this will be her first try at seven furlongs. Trained by Brad Cox, the daughter of Into Mischief  breezed four times in July at Churchill, including most recently going a half-mile in :47 4/5 July 26, which ranked fifth of 95 moves at the distance that day.

First Row Partners and Parkland Thoroughbreds' Royal Charlotte, trained by Chad Brown, appears capable of taking advantage of any pace meltdown—or, if she continues to improve, creating her own good fortune. The daughter of Cairo Prince  has four wins in as many starts, taking her stakes debut May 27 at Monmouth Park in the Hystericalady and her graded stakes debut in the July 5 Victory Ride (G3) at Belmont.

Also entered in the Test are Trenchtown Cat, who is grade 2-placed at the distance; Please Flatter Me, who secured her third stakes win in her previous start June 16 at Laurel Park in the Alma North Stakes; and Jeltrin, a grade 2 winner who finished third in the Acorn.

Entries: Longines Test S. (G1)

Saratoga Race Course, Saturday, August 03, 2019, Race 8

• Grade I
• 7f
• Dirt
• $500,000
• 3 yo Fillies
• 5:06 PM (local)

PP	Horse	Jockey	Wgt	Trainer	M/L
1	1Serengeti Empress (KY)	Jose L. Ortiz	123	Thomas M. Amoss	7/2
2	2Bellafina (KY)	Flavien Prat	123	Simon Callaghan	2/1
3	3Covfefe (KY)	Joel Rosario	119	Brad H. Cox	5/2
4	4Trenchtown Cat (KY)	Irad Ortiz, Jr.	117	Rohan Crichton	12/1
5	5Royal Charlotte (KY)	Javier Castellano	119	Chad C. Brown	3/1
6	6Please Flatter Me (PA)	John R. Velazquez	117	Mark J. Reid	15/1
7	7Jeltrin (KY)	Luis Saez	121	Alexis Delgado	20/1