Champion Serena’s Song Passes Away

[Wandering Eyes]

Serena's Song, the 3-year-old filly champion in 1995 and the winner of 11 Grade I stakes races, passed away peacefully Wednesday at Denali Stud, where she spent her entire post-racetrack career. She died 25 days before her 34th birthday, but was officially considered 34 at the time of her death.

Inducted into the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame in 2002, she won 18 of 38 starts and recorded 17 grades stakes wins. Her finest hour came when she defeated males to capture the 1995 GI Haskell Invitational Handicap.

“She had the elegance of a Grace Kelly, she had the moves of a Ginger Rogers, and she had the charisma of a Marilyn Monroe,” her trainer, Wayne Lukas, said at the Hall of Fame induction ceremonies for Serena's Song. “For you people that are a lot younger and don't have a clue as to what I'm talking about, she had the moves of Janet Jackson and the charisma of Britney Spears.”

A daughter of Rahy out of the Northfields mare Imaging, she was bought for $150,000 at the 1993 Keeneland July Sale of Selected Yearlings. She began her career for Lukas and owners Bob and Beverly Lewis with a fifth-place finish in a May 28, 1994 maiden special weight race at Churchill Downs. In her fourth career start, she won her first stakes race, the GII Landaluce Stakes at Hollywood Park. She would prove to be one of the best 2-year-old fillies in training that year, winning the GI Oak Leaf Stakes and the GI Starlet Stakes. She also finished second in the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies, losing to stablemate Flanders.

Serena's Song takes the Haskell | Equi-Photo

But her 3-year-old year was the one in which she became a superstar. After his filly kicked off her season with three straight wins, Lukas got bold and ran her against the boys in the GII Jim Beam Stakes, a major prep for the Kentucky Derby. With Corey Nakatani aboard, she won by 3 ½ lengths. Lukas originally said after the Jim Beam win that Serena's Song would be pointed for the GI Kentucky Oaks, but changed course and ran her in the Kentucky Derby. After setting blistering early fractions, she finished 16th.

It didn't take her long to rebound, and, with a new jockey in Gary Stevens aboard, she won two of her next three starts. She then headed to the Jersey Shore to take on the boys again in the Haskell. She was tiring in the stretch, but held on to win by three-quarters of a length. Serena's Song became the first filly ever to win the prestigious Grade I event.

“We came, we made history and we stamped her as one of the great ones,” Lukas said after the win. “I rank her right up there with any of the great fillies we've had.”

Serena's Song would go on to win two more major stakes that year, the GI Gazelle Handicap and the GI Beldame Stakes. But she could do no better than fifth in the GI Breeders' Cup Distaff.

She slowed down a bit as a 4-year-old, winning five of 15 starts, but still managed to capture three more Grade I races that year, the GI Santa Monica Handicap, the GI Santa Maria Handicap and the GI Hempstead Handicap. In her final career start, she finished second in the GII Churchill Downs Distaff Handicap, which increased her career earnings to $3,283,388.

“It's not what we can see that counts, it's ultimately what we can't see that makes them great,” Lukas also said during Serena's Song's Hall of Fame induction speech. “It's the inside, the heart, and she had plenty of that. She was tough.”

Bob Lewis was so fond of his Serena's Song that he told the Los Angeles Times in 1995 that it almost felt like the filly was part of his family.

“I tell people we've been fortunate to have two sons and a daughter, but I almost feel as though we have two daughters when you count Serena's Song,” he said. “We realize how fortunate we are to have her. She's the epitome of a racehorse. She just flows.”

Serena's Song wins the Mother Goose | Coglianese

Upon retirement, Serena's Song was sent to Denali. She was considered the first high-profile broodmare to land there.

“We call her the 'Queen of Denali,' just because she is really our foundational mare and the fact that she's still with us,” Denali Director of Marketing and Hospitality Claire Bandoroff told the TDN's Jill Williams in 2025. “She put us on the map. I don't think anyone on the farm remembers a day without her here.”

Serena's Song produced 12 foals, 11 that raced, and nine who have won. She was the dam of Sophisticat, a filly by Storm Cat, who won the GI Coronation Stakes at Royal Ascot in 2002.  She also produced the Storm Cat colt Grand Reward, who won the GII Oaklawn Handicap in 2005.

“Serena had such a profound impact on many people's lives, especially the Lewis family, our family, and the staff who worked with her during her time at Denali,” said Conrad Bandoroff. “We are incredibly blessed and honored that Bob and Beverly, and eventually their son Jeff chose to keep her with us and trust us with her care for three decades. She is and always will be the Queen of Denali Stud. I would like to think that Wayne had a stall ready for her up there, and that he, Bob, and Beverly welcomed her with open arms.”

In 2014, the Lewis Family and Denali Stud announced that Serena's Song, then 22, was being retired as a broodmare. She enjoyed the rest of her days eating peppermints and helped raise thousands of dollars for Thoroughbred charities through her halters.

“I know that there will never be another broodmare like her for me,” Craig Bandoroff said. “It has been a great honor to work with the Lewises for the entirety of her breeding career. She has had a profound impact on the growth and development of Denali Stud.

“I very rarely can't find the words, but that is where I find myself,” he said. “There are times in our lives where the Good Lord takes care of you. He did that when Bob and Beverly Lewis became our clients and again when Serena came into our lives. Some things can't be replaced. You just have to be thankful they came your way. Serena meant more to Denali than I can describe. We were just blessed to have her. Hopefully Bob, Beverly and Serena are reunited.”

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