Serena's Song, champion and Hall of Famer, dies at age 34

Serena's Song, the 1995 champion 3-year-old filly and Hall of Famer, died Wednesday at age 34.

Denali Stud said in an X post that she died peacefully of old age.

Purchased as a yearling by Bob and Beverly Lewis for $150,000 and trained by D. Wayne Lukas, Serena's Song raced from 1994 to 1996 and compiled a 38: 18-11-3 record. She was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2002.

After finishing second by a head in the 1994 Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies, Serena's Son won five consecutive graded stakes, including the Jim Beam (G2) against colts, before trying the Kentucky Derby, where she finished 16th. In all, she won 17 graded stakes, including the 1995 Haskell (G1), and earned $3.3 million, a record for an American filly or mare at the time.

Her final start was in November 1996, when she finished second in the Churchill Downs Distaff Handicap (G2). In her next-to-last start, Serena's Song was second in the Breeders' Cup Distaff.