| Horsename: | Serena’s Song |
| Dam: | Imagining |
| Damsire: | Northfields |
| Sex: | Mare |
| Foaled: | 1992 |
| Country: | United States |
| Colour: | Bay |
| Breeder: | Dr. Howard J. Baker |
| Owner: | Robert and Beverly Lewis |
| Record: | 38: 18-11–3 |
| Earnings: | $3,283,388 |
| Race: | Oak Leaf Stakes (1994) Hollywood Starlet Stakes (1994) Landaluce Stakes (1994) Las Virgenes Stakes (1995) Jim Beam Stakes (1995) Santa Ynez Stakes (1995) Gazelle Handicap (1995) Santa Anita Oaks (1995) Mother Goose Stakes (1995) Black-Eyed Susan Stakes (1995) Haskell Invitational Handicap (1995) Beldame Stakes (1995) Hempstead Handicap (1996) Fleur De Lis Handicap (1996) Santa Maria Handicap (1996) Santa Monica Handicap (1996) Pimlico Distaff (1996) |
| Awards: | Kentucky-bred Three-Year-Old Filly (1995) Kentucky-bred Horse of the Year (1995) Kentucky-bred Handicap Mare (1996) American Champion Three-Year-Old Filly (1995) |
| Honours: | U.S. Racing Hall of Fame (2002) |
| Updated: | January 1, 2008 |
Serena's Song (foaled April 4, 1992) is an American Thoroughbred race horse. She won 17 graded stakes races, including 11 Grade I (some against males and older mares), in three seasons for $3,286,388 in earnings.
Serena's Song is a smaller than average, but athletically built bay mare.[1] Her sire Rahy was a Grade II winner on turf and Grade I-placed, but was more successful at stud and became notable primarily as a sire of broodmares and racemares. Rahy has also sired 2006 U.S. Champion Two-Year-Old Filly Dreaming of Anna, Breeders' Cup Turf winner and European Horse of the Year Fantastic Light, and the outstanding broodmare Mariah's Storm, among other notable horses.[2] Serena's Song's dam Imagining, a daughter of Northfields, won two of her 26 races but became a successful broodmare who also produced Grade III winner Vivid Imagination and graded stakes producers River Saint and Serena's Sister.[3]
Serena's Song was bred in Kentucky by Dr. Howard J. Baker. Hall of Fame trainer D. Wayne Lukas bought her at the 1993 Keeneland July yearling sale for $150,000 for Eclipse of Merit owners Robert and Beverly Lewis.
In her two-year-old season, Serena's Song started 10 times and won four races. She also finished second twice and third once while compiling earnings of $597,335. In the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies, she finished second to the undefeated champion Flanders by a head. In the Grade I Hollywood Starlet Stakes, she beat Urbane.
In 13 starts at age three, Serena's Song won 9. One of her top performances was in the second jewel of the Fillies Triple Crown, the $200,000 Grade 2 Black-Eyed Susan Stakes. That race was run on May 19, 1995, over a mile and one eighth at Pimlico Race Course. Serena's Song beat a field of seven stakes winners, including Conquistadoress and Rare Opportunity.
Serena's Song defeated males that year in the Spiral Stakes and the Haskell Stakes. She also defeated older females in the Beldame Stakes.
She then won the American Champion Three-Year-Old Filly award, winning $1,524,920.
Serena's Song raced 15 times as a four-year-old and won 5, never coming worse than third, while running at eight different tracks. In May she won the Pimlico Distaff, now called the Allaire duPont Distaff Stakes, on the Preakness Stakes undercard. She also came very close to winning the Whitney Handicap over males, and was second in the Breeders' Cup Distaff to bring her year's earnings to $1,164,133.
Serena's Song was sent to Denali Stud near Paris, Kentucky to become a broodmare. She produced 12 foals, 11 that raced, and nine who have won. Among her offspring are:
After her 2014 filly was weaned, Serena's Song was retired from broodmare duties. She still resides at Denali Stud.
Serena's Song was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2002 at age ten.