"His potential is exciting," said Bandoroff of Serena's Song's Deputy Minister yearling. "We hope that he'll be taking Mr. and Mrs. Lewis back to the winner's circle in the big races."In all, the Lewises will keep and race six of the yearlings of 2001 that they bred, according to Bandoroff.
Robert and Beverly Lewis have shifted the focus of their breeding program from selling to racing this year. As a result, they recently scratched both of their entries to the Keeneland July select yearling sale: a Deputy Minister--Serena's Song colt and a Gone West--Storm Beauty filly. The Lewises also will retain most of the yearlings that they planned to offer at the Keeneland September sale."They've evaluated their program like everybody does from time to time," said Craig Bandoroff of Denali Stud, which handles the Lewises' auction consignments. "They have some nice horses, and they've decided to keep them."Serena's Song was the champion 3-year-old filly of 1995. Her first two foals both were fillies and both sold for seven-figure prices at Keeneland in July. Serena's Tune (by Mr. Prospector) brought $1 million in 1999, and Sophisticat (by Storm Cat) was the sale's second-highest-priced yearling at $3.4 million last year. Serena's Tune won this year's La Habra Stakes. Sophisticat is a winner in England and Ireland. She finished second in this year's Queen Mary Stakes (Eng-III).