Serengeti Empress is preparing for her final start on the racetrack in the Nov. 7 Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Sprint (G1) at Keeneland, but her time with owner Joel Politi and family is far from over.
The 4-year-old Alternation filly has taken the Politis across the country, with victories in the 2019 Longines Kentucky Oaks (G1) at Churchill Downs and this summer's Ballerina Handicap (G1) at Saratoga Race Course. She has become valuable in more ways than one, and won't be among the top females that head through the sales rings at the November breeding stock sales.
"I've been made what most people would consider ridiculous offers on her since the day she won the (2018) Ellis Park Debutante," Politi said. "I'm lucky enough that I don't really need to sell her. She's given us a gift that maybe some people can understand but it's hard to explain. The idea of keeping her forever as part of our family… my wife loves her, my kids love her, and she's going to stay part of our family.
"She'll have foals. I understand how the broodmare game goes. Sometimes a great racehorse doesn't turn into a great broodmare. And if that's the case, that's just fine because we'll still take good care of her. And if she turns into a great broodmare then that'll be a whole other chapter in our lives, and either way it's fine.
"She's given us experiences that I could never have dreamed of. The idea of selling her, to me, would be like parting with a family member."
Horse racing and family has always been a part of Politi's life. He grew up in Northeast Ohio and his parents, Jacques and Joyce, had a 12-horse barn in the backyard. His dad bred horses and took Politi to Thistledown and Waterford Park (now Mountainer Casino, Racetrack & Resort), and when those tracks were dark in the winter they would go the races in Maryland for the weekend.
"I grew up going to the races, we bred and raised a bunch of horses, and my mom passed away this year. It's definitely something that she enjoyed, just watching and cheering. She got a lot of joy out of seeing the whole experience 'Serengeti' has given us," Politi said. "I wish my dad could have been here for all this. He would have loved it too. I wouldn't be where I am now without my dad's passion from my childhood."
The Filly & Mare Sprint will be the third different Breeders' Cup race for the Tom Amoss-trained Serengeti Empress after she ran seventh in the 2018 Tito's Handmade Vodka Juvenile Fillies (G1) at Churchill and third in the 2019 Longines Distaff (G1) at Santa Anita Park. This year's World Championships event will be the dark bay or brown filly's third consecutive start at seven furlongs.
In the Aug. 8 Ballerina, she took command early and sped through opening quarter-mile fractions of :21.75 and :43.75, completing the distance in 1:21.63 and winning by a length over closers. She returned Sept. 5 in the Derby City Distaff Stakes Presented by Derby City Gaming (G1) at Churchill, was a head off the pace as a quarter-mile went in :21.95, took over to run a half-mile in :43.77, then was just caught a by a nose at the wire by fellow Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Sprint contender Bell's the One in a race timed in 1:21.07.
"I think if you're going to say, 'What were her best races?' you could maybe make the argument that the Ballerina was her best race. She was super gutty," Politi said. "She might have even run her best race in the Derby City Distaff getting beat a nose last time. … To go as fast as she's gone early and still have something left to hang on, those are pretty special races, both of them."
Serengeti Empress was bred by Tri Eques Bloodstock in Kentucky out of the Bernardini mare Havisham. Taylor Made Sales Agency consigned her as a weanling to the 2016 November Breeding Stock Sale at Keeneland, where she was purchased by Dixon Enterprises for $25,000. She returned in the 2017 Keeneland September Yearling Sale with Brookdale Sales and Politi secured her for $70,000.
"Tom picked her out and Tom had been going to the sales for probably three or four years before we went together to get 'Serengeti' and his track record with a very limited number of purchases was really great," Politi said. "He bought Mo Tom for a reasonable amount, he bought Lone Sailor for a reasonable amount, he had a bunch of other horses that were good and he was only buying a handful of horses. He's a horse whisperer. He can see things other people can't see. He was going to the sale and I said, 'Well, if you're picking I'm going.' We went and he picked her out. I was along for the ride.
"Our expectation after buying a $70,000 yearling was, 'I hope she's good.' You never would have expected that she would be what she is. Everybody goes to the sale dreaming of buying a horse like her, and it happens every year. Obviously every year Keeneland turns out, or any of the sales turn out, grade 1 winners, so it's not that it doesn't happen. Swiss Skydiver was a $35,000 purchase, so it happens every year. But we were lucky that we found the golden ticket. She was the one."
Serengeti Empress grabbed headlines as a juvenile in 2018 by winning the Ellis Park Debutante Stakes by 13 1/2 lengths at Ellis Park, then rolled to a 19 1/2-length score in the Pocahontas Stakes (G2) at Churchill, the largest winning margin in a stakes race at the Louisville track since Rachel Alexandra won the 2009 Kentucky Oaks by 20 1/4 lengths.
"That was a great day. That probably was my second favorite race, the Pocahontas," Politi said. "We were there and that was her breakout and she won by 19 1/2 lengths. That was a wow race. If she had never done anything after that, it would have been enough."
But Serengeti Empress did more and scored an Oaks victory the next year in gate-to-wire fashion.
"The whole Kentucky Oaks experience was magical, 150,000 people," Politi said. "We did the walkover with my family. I have four daughters, three of my four daughters were with us to do the walkover. She wasn't the favorite and she ran lights out. We went to the infield. It was a surreal experience. That's something that you dream of. Winning a big race is winning a big race, but winning the Oaks is winning a classic and it was really unbelievable."
Through 18 career starts ahead of the Breeders' Cup, Serengeti Empress has collected more than $2 million from a 7-4-1 record with one last race ahead of her.
"She's healthy, she's sound, and she doesn't have any real physical ails. We're going to take good care of her," Politi said of his filly's upcoming retirement.
Politi said after the Breeders' Cup Serengeti Empress will head back to Taylor Made Farm in Nicholasville, Ky., where she was born. She will visit leading sire Into Mischief at Spendthrift Farm to begin her next career as a broodmare.
"It's definitely bittersweet because she's taken my family on an adventure that we just never could have imagined. We've traveled all over the country watching her run, three straight Breeders' Cups. She's in the national spotlight straight for two years here," Politi said. "Seeing all of this come to an end will be sad but we'll then enter into the next chapter of her life which will be hopefully just as great."
