Serena's Song, Hall of Famer and champion, pensioned

Serena’s Song, the Hall of Fame champion 3-year-old filly of 1995 and the dam of four graded stakes winners, has been pensioned, the owners and manager of the mare said on Monday. She turns 23 on Jan. 1.

Serena’s Song is “still in great health and condition,” said Craig Bandoroff, the owner of Denali Stud, where Serena’s Song has been boarded on behalf of her owners, the Lewis family, for her entire breeding career. However, the mare did not sustain her 2014 pregnancy earlier this year, Bandoroff said, and the Lewises decided to retire her from breeding.

“Everyone agreed it was time to let her live out her remaining years in leisure,” Bandoroff said in a statement. “I know that there will never be another broodmare like her for me. It has been a great honor to work with the Lewises for the entirety of her breeding career.”

Serena’s Song’s four graded stakes winners are Sophisticat, Harlington, Grand Reward, and Schramsberg. She also foaled Serena’s Tune, who has so far produced four foals, three of which have won.

She produced a Medaglia d’Oro filly earlier this year. A 2011 foal from the same stallion died as a foal.

In 13 starts during her championship season, Serena’s Song won nine times, including beating males in the Jim Beam Stakes (now the Spiral Stakes) and the Haskell. She was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2002.