Serengeti Empress

Serengeti Empress made an impressive career debut when romping by 5 ½ lengths in July 2018 at Indiana Grand. She next ran fourth when facing a stiff class test in the Grade 3 Schuylerville Stakes at Saratoga Race Course in her second start.

Serengeti Empress rebounded in a big way to win the Ellis Park Dubutante Stakes by 13 ½ lengths when leading from start to finish. She subsequently tested graded stakes company for a second time and this time passed the test with flying colors, leading every step of the way in a 19 ½-length runaway. In her final start as a 2-year-old, Serengeti Empress was unable to make the lead in the Tito's Handmade Vodka Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies and faded late to finish seventh in the 10-horse field, beaten by 17 1/2  lengths.

After the Juvenile Fillies, Serengeti Empress was given some time off. She returned 3 1/2 months later in the Grade 2 Rachel Alexandra Stakes at Fair Grounds on Feb. 16. In the 1 1/16-mile race, Serengeti Empress was allowed to set an uncontested pace and simply overwhelmed the opposition in another runaway victory.

After a disappointing seventh-place finish in the Fair Grounds Oaks, Serengeti Empress rebounded in a big way on the first Friday in May. Breaking alertly from post 13 in the Longines Kentucky Oaks, jockey Jose Ortiz guided her to the front and the filly never looked back, cruising to victory in the historic race to pick up her first Grade 1 win.

Serengeti Empress made her next start in the June 8 Grade 1, one-mile Acorn Stakes at Belmont Park. She started slow and was hustled to the lead under Irad Ortiz Jr. to set a fast pace, but tired in the stretch to finish second to Guarana, who won in stakes-record time.

In her next start, Serengeti Empress ran second again, coming up a half-length short to Covfefe in the Longines Test Stakes on Aug. 3. She disappointed in her following start when a well-beaten sixth in the Cotillion Stakes at Parx Racing in September, but rebounded to finish a very good third in the Longines Breeders’ Cup Distaff against older fillies and mares. Serengeti Empress set a fast pace in that 1 1/8-mile race at Santa Anita on Nov. 2 and held on well in the stretch to keep third behind winner Blue Prize and runner-up Midnight Bisou.

A finalist for champion 3-year-old filly of 2019, Serengeti Empress kicked off her 4-year-old season with a runner-up effort in the Houston Ladies Classic, defeated by a half-length. She then returned to her best form and picked up her first win since the Kentucky Oaks with a wire-to-wire, 6 ¼-length score in the Grade 2 Azeri Stakes on March 14 at Oaklawn Park.

After back-to-back unplaced finishes in the Grade 1 Apple Blossom Handicap in April and the Grade 2 Fleur de Lis Stakes in June, Serengeti Empress regained her top form with a powerhouse performance in the Grade 1 Ballerina Stakes Aug. 8 at Saratoga Race Course. She set a wicked pace despite starting a step slow and then battled gamely in the stretch to hold off Grade 1 winner Bellafina by a length while completing the seven-eighths of a mile in 1:21.63. The win also earned Serengeti Empress a spot in the 2020 Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint via the “Win and You’re In” Challenge Series.

Making her next start in the Grade 1 Derby City Distaff Presented by Derby City Gaming Sept. 5 at Churchill Downs, Serengeti Empress set a grueling pace and turned back two challengers before she was collared in the final strides by Bell's the One in a game-as-the-come runner-up finish by a nose. 

Making her next start in the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint, Serengeti Empress finished second again to Gamine in what is expected to be the final race of her career.