Serengeti Empress ready to go for Houston Ladies Classic

NEW ORLEANS – Serengeti Empress is built something along the lines of a gazelle. She’s fleet, works hard during morning exercise, and does not take a lot of training to get ready to race.

Case in point: Following Serengeti Empress’s second workout here Jan. 12 after a post-Breeders’ Cup break, trainer Tom Amoss proclaimed the filly “fit and ready.” She is so ready that Amoss said Serengeti Empress will make her 4-year-old debut in the $300,000 Houston Ladies Classic on Jan. 26 at Sam Houston.

“The way she worked, the way she came out of the work, the way she’s eating and how she looks – everything points in the right direction,” Amoss said Monday morning.

Serengeti Empress got an official clocking Sunday of 48 seconds for a half-mile, but Amoss said her gallop-out following the four furlongs ended at the wire and was as important as the officially timed portion of the work itself. Serengeti Empress worked a half in 49 seconds here Jan. 5, her first workout since finishing third in the Breeders’ Cup Distaff. Earlier in 2019, she finished second in the Grade 1 Test, second in the Grade 1 Acorn, and won the Kentucky Oaks.

The day before Serengeti Empress’s weekend breeze, the Amoss-trained 3-year-old No Parole scored his second blowout Fair Grounds sprint win this meet, breezing to a 13 1/4-length geared-down victory over first-level Louisiana-bred allowance sprinters. He ran six furlongs over a dull surface in 1:10.24 and earned an 87 Beyer. His debut win, which yielded the same raw time, came back a 90 Beyer.

No Parole goes very fast, very easily. He’s a son of Violence and out of Plus One, a mare by Bluegrass Cat who sprinted during her racing career. No Parole might or might not turn out to be a route horse, but Amoss said he’ll get the chance to try two turns against open stakes competition in his next start, though Amoss and owner Maggi Moss have yet to determine where.