Serengeti Empress takes them all the way in Kentucky Oaks win
After Serengeti Empress galloped through the opening half mile of Friday's 2019 Kentucky Oaks in 46 seconds in change, trainer Tom Amoss' wife turned to him, wondering whether that was too fast.
"Not for her," Amoss told her. "When she's good, she's really good."
And that was the case Friday at Churchill Downs as the daughter of Alternation sprinted to a wire-to-wire win in the $1.25 million feature for 3-year-old fillies.
Serengeti Empress, who won by as many as 19 1/2 lengths over this surface at age 2, also bled through Lasix in her final prep, finishing last in the Fair Grounds Oaks (G2) and calling into question her Kentucky Oaks status. Joel Politi's Serengeti Empress received the all clear when she scoped clean April 23 following a five-furlong work.
The final time Friday clocked 1:50.17 for nine furlongs under jockey Jose Ortiz.
“Right now I’m thinking about my mom and dad," Amoss said after the race. "They’re 93 and 94. They’re watching at home. I’ve always wanted to do something like this for them. I got to do it in their lifetime. I’m overwhelmed — I really am.”
Serengeti Empress improved her record to 8: 5-0-0 -- an all-or-nothing speedster who more often than not is out front at the wire.
Friday's Oaks was marred by a stumble at the start as Positive Spirit appeared to get in behind horses and fall. Both horse and rider Manny Franco walked away from the incident, with the filly returning to her barn.
MORE: On-site vet updates Positive Spirit's condition
Outriders quickly corralled Positive Spirit, and the focus turned back to the front, where Serengeti Empress was setting snappy fractions, positioned a few lengths in front of a stalking Lady Apple and Motion Emotion. Both of those eventually faded -- Liora tracked in fourth -- to fill out an Oaks exacta for fillies based over the winter at Louisiana's Fair Grounds.
Serengeti Empress had run big on the lead before Friday. Last year, she won Churchill Downs' Pocahontas (G2) with a performance that drew comparisons to Rachel Alexandra, and before the bleeding episode she opened her 3-year-old season with an easy victory in, aptly, Fair Grounds' Rachel Alexandra Stakes.