Serengeti Empress

by Jessica Martini & Christina Bossinakis LEXINGTON, KY - With the very first horse through the ring bringing $1.3 million, the second session of the Keeneland September Yearling Sale was off to the races Tuesday and the action didn't slow down throughout the day as the second-to-last offering brought $1.25 million. In between, 13 other yearlings sold for seven figures, including a colt by Into Mischief who brought top price of $3 million from the partnership of Chuck Sonson, West Point Thoroughbreds and Woodford. With eight million-dollar yearlings Monday, the...

Joel Politi was still a relative newcomer to racehorse ownership when Serengeti Empress (Alternation) took him to the winner's circle of the 2019 GI Kentucky Oaks. The dream ride could continue when the mare's first foal, a colt by Into Mischief (hip 309), goes through the sales ring Tuesday during the second Book 1 session of the Keeneland September Yearling Sale through the Taylor Made Sales Agency consignment. "I am excited, proud and nervous, how about that? Probably a lot of emotions," Politi said ahead of next week's auction. "Serengeti...

It felt like everything was up in the air; but actually everything was falling into place. Even as a kid, from nowhere obvious, Fred Seitz had discovered an affinity for horses. And the young man stepping onto the tarmac at Lexington airport had meanwhile learned resilience and adaptability with the Marine Corps. Sure enough, all the perplexity Seitz felt about his future was about to evaporate. "I was wondering what I was going to do when I grew up!" Seitz recalls in his gentle, humorous tones. (He was, by this...

Multiple graded stakes-winning millionaire Alternation (Distorted Humor--Alternate, by Seattle Slew), a half-brother to Grade I winner and Darby Dan Farm stallion Higher Power (Medaglia d'Oro) and the sire of multiple Grade I winner Serengeti Empress, is being relocated from Pin Oak Stud to Darby Dan Farm by Steve Belford's Maccabee Farm for the upcoming breeding season, the farm announced today. Alternation is being re-syndicated and will stand for a fee of $7,500 S&N. "We're excited to bring a horse of Alternation's caliber to Darby Dan," said Ryan Norton, stallion director...

Taylor Made Farm welcomed dual Grade I winner Serengeti Empress (Alternation) home to her birthplace on Monday afternoon. The 2019 Kentucky Oaks victress will be bred to red hot sire Into Mischief. Shipping in from the Tom Amoss barn at Churchill Downs, Serengeti Empress will become barnmates with several other high-profile maiden mares, including Larry Best's recent $1.95 million Keeneland November purchase Concrete Rose (Twirling Candy). "It's just special," said Frank Taylor, the Vice President of Boarding Operations for Taylor Made. "When you get these Grade I winners come to...

Serengeti Empress (Alternation--Havisham, by Bernardini), second to Gamine (Into Mischief) in the GI Breeders' Cup Filly and Mare Sprint S. Saturday at Keeneland, has been retired and will be bred to Into Mischief, according to a tweet from trainer Tom Amoss's daughter Hayley Amoss Wednesday morning. "Said goodbye to Serengeti Empress yesterday with plenty of peppermints," tweeted Amoss, with a photo of herself and the filly taken in front of her stall Tuesday morning. "Sad that she will no longer be in the first stall at Tom Amoss's barn, but...

In a race that did not deserve a loser, Lothenbach Stables' Bell's the One (Majesticperfection) took advantage of the ultimate race flow for her one-run style and dropped her nose down on the wire ahead of a desperately unlucky 2019 GI Kentucky Oaks winner Serengeti Empress (Alternation) to win the GI Derby City Distaff S. at Churchill Downs. Taken back off the pace, as is her custom, Bell's The One laid fifth as Serengeti Empress, last-out winner of the GI Ballerina S. at Saratoga, dueled on a scorching pace inside...

Serengeti Empress (Alternation) sparkled in a front-running display in the Aug. 8 GI Ballerina S. at Saratoga and will try to make it two straight with a win in Saturday's GI Derby City Distaff S. at Churchill Downs. While the Ballerina's opening fractions of :21.75 and :43.74 would have been enough to incinerate most rivals, they merely served as a stepping stone to victory for the speedy filly as the 2019 Kentucky Oaks heroine finished one length clear of the hard-trying yet second-best Bellafina (Quality Road), who returns to re-oppose...

Last year's GI Longines Kentucky Oaks heroine Serengeti Empress (Alternation) punched her ticket to the GI Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Sprint with an ultra-game, front-running performance while turning back in distance in Saturday's GI Ballerina S. at the Spa. The dark bay wasn't off to the sharpest of beginnings from her rail draw, but was quarter-horsed to the front by Luis Saez to hold a narrow advantage over the pride of Mexico Letruska (Super Saver) through an opening quarter in a blazing :21.75. Getting scrubbed on and appearing to...

A well-matched field of seven fillies and mares coming from different directions in Saturday's GI Ballerina S. at Saratoga, the first of three top-level events on the GI Runhappy Travers day card at the spectator-less Spa and a "Win and You're In" event for the GI Breeders' Cup F/M Sprint. Made the lukewarm favorite on the morning line is Kaleem Shah's Bellafina (Quality Road). A three-time Grade I winner in her first eight career starts, the $800,000 Fasig-Tipton Gulfstream buy was a dull fifth as the favorite in the GI...

Champion Midnight Bisou (Midnight Lute) was back to her best form Saturday at Churchill Downs, winning the GII Fleur de Lis H. with ease in her first start back on U.S. soil since finishing an ultra-game second in the Saudi Cup in February. GI Kentucky Oaks victress Serengeti Empress (Alternation) jetted straight to the lead, while favored Midnight Bisou bided her time back in mid-pack through a brisk :23.18 first quarter. Inched closer by Mike Smith, Midnight Bisou moved up into third, while still several lengths off the pacesetter, as...

With a newly-minted Grade I winner in his barn and another set to hit the track this weekend, trainer Tom Amoss joined the TDN Writers' Room podcast presented by Keeneland Wednesday morning for an illuminating discussion that covered a wide variety of topics, big and small. Calling in via Zoom as the Green Group Guest of the Week, Amoss explained the success of barn stars No Parole (Violence) and Serengeti Empress (Alternation), talked about what he's learned from branching out into broadcasting and offered his take on why racing has...