Serengeti Empress will have to leave gate running from post 1 in Test

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Trainer Tom Amoss already knew what question was coming as a reporter approached the morning after the post-position draw for Saturday’s $500,000 Test Stakes at Saratoga.

“I’m disappointed in the post position,” Amoss offered without being asked, referring to the fact his Serengeti Empress drew the rail for the seven-furlong Test. “Having said that, I was disappointed in the post position for the Kentucky Oaks as well because it made the decision of what to do with her inevitable. We had to go from an outside post.”

Serengeti Empress went on to register a wire to wire 1 3/4-length victory in the Oaks, and Amoss is hoping the result will be the same in the Test when Serengeti Empress takes on six other 3-year-olds, including California invader Bellafina, who will be seeking her fourth Grade 1 win.

Serengeti Empress also broke from the rail in her most recent start, the Grade 1 Acorn at Belmont Park, winding up in a suicidal pace battle with Cookie Dough before finishing a distant second behind the undefeated Guarana while earning a career best 90 Beyer Speed Figure. Amoss is hoping a similar scenario doesn’t develop between his filly and the equally fleet Covfefe on Saturday.

“We’re on the rail, and we don’t want to be in a position of getting behind horses and perhaps getting trapped, so we’re going,” Amoss said. “I know there’s another horse in the race who is probably going to be doing the exact same thing. I’m sure her people believe that’s their only chance to win – to beat us the opening quarter of a mile.

“There’s no question the first quarter of a mile is going to be a hot, hot pace. We accept that and we’re just going to let it play out. There’s nothing else we can do.”

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Amoss, though, has confidence Serengeti Empress might be a bit quicker from the blocks than Covfefe and can get loose early, a la the Oaks, which was decided around two turns at 1 1/8 miles.

“I feel very comfortable she’s going to break a lot sharper than she did in the Acorn,” said Amoss. “In my opinion, she’s the fastest horse early in the race. If the post positions were reversed and I was outside I’d be a lot more comfortable saying we’re just going to break and see what’s happening in the race. But being on the inside, we don’t have a choice.”

Amoss said Serengeti Empress couldn’t be doing better since arriving at Saratoga.

“She’s doing great, she’s had a couple of works over the track here, and she’s handled it very well,” he said.

Covfefe enters the Test off a third-place finish after she got caught up in an extended pace battle as the 2-5 favorite against older horses in the six-furlong Roxelana Stakes at Churchill Downs. The performance followed her sensational 8 1/2-length triumph in the Grade 3 Miss Preakness, for which she received a 107 Beyer, easily tops of any horse in the Test field. Covfefe is a bit of a question mark at the distance, having never won beyond 6 1/2 furlongs.

Bellafina and the undefeated Royal Charlotte figure to be among the key beneficiaries should a torrid pace develop.

Bellafina has been freshened since her fifth-place finish, eight lengths behind Serengeti Empress, in the Kentucky Oaks. She’ll be turning back to what appears to be her optimum distance as she is undefeated in two starts at seven furlongs. One of those victories was an 8 1/2-length eye-catcher earlier this year in the Grade 2 Santa Ynez at Santa Anita.

Royal Charlotte is perfect in four career starts, including an easy four-length triumph in the Grade 3 Victory Ride last month at Belmont, although like Covfefe she has never won beyond 6 1/2 furlongs. Royal Charlotte’s Beyer Speed Figures have improved with every successive start, and she will be in receipt of a four-pound weight concession from both Serengeti Empress and Bellafina under the allowance conditions of the Test. She is trained by Chad Brown.

Completing the field are Florida invader Trenchtown Cat, runner-up against older horses in the Grade 2 Princess Rooney at Gulfstream Park in her most recent start; three-time stakes winner Please Flatter Me; and Grade 2 winner Jeltrin.