Serengeti Empress, appropriate to her name, 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 Empresss’s second published workout here Jan. 12 after a post-Breeders’ Cup break, trainer Tom Amoss proclaimed the filly “fit and ready.” So ready that Amoss said Serengeti Empress will make her 4-year-old debut in the $400,000 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 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 timed workout since finishing third in the Breeder’ Cup Distaff. Earlier in 2019 she finished second in the Grade 1 Test, second in the Grade 1 Acorn, and won the Kentucky Oaks.