Page 56 - NMHBA Spring 2020

SUNLAND PARK
by Michael Cusortelli
Dona Ana County Handicap (R)
First Moonflash
First To Flash
Nagano Moon
Girlonthego
Man On The Move
Devons Wish
RYANSMANONTHEMOON
Ryansmanonthemoon was a prompt 4-5 favorite in the January 25, 440-yard Dona Ana County Handicap (R) at Sunland Park.
Ridden by Mauro Salcedo and
aided by a reported 9-mph tail wind, Ryansmanonthemoon made his quarter-mile trip in :20.963 and won in wire-to-wire fash- ion. Cynthia Gonzalez saddled the homebred 4-year-old gelding for cousins Jimmy Negrete and Jimmy Vasquez.
Ryansmanonthemoon was making his sea- son debut, and he was coming off of a sixth- place finish, 2 3/4 lengths behind winner Valiant Tiberias, in the 440-yard, $350,000 Championship at Sunland Park (G1) on December 29. The gelding’s sire, the First To Flash stallion First Moonflash, was the sport’s champion aged stallion in 2009.
Racing from 2007-09, First Moonflash won 14 of 25 starts -- including 10 stakes
-- and he earned $969,828. He has sired the earners of more than $18.8 million from eight crops, headed by champions Flash And Roll, Handsome Jack Flash, and Foxy Moonflash, and multiple graded stakes winners Too Flash For You and A Passion For Flashn.
First Moonflash died on May 29, 2019, after a battle with laminitis. He was 14.
Ryansmanonthemoon is a half-brother to
two-time graded stakes winner Cat Daddys Lil Girl. The gelding is out of Girlonthego, an 8-year-old daughter of Man On The Move who won the 2014 Zia Futurity (RG1) at Ruidoso Downs.
Ryansmanonthemoon traces back to his third dam, Kiptys Wish, a winning daughter of Kiptys Charger who ran second in the 1991 Fiesta Derby at Bandera Downs and ‘92 QH of Texas Breeders’ Sale Derby at Manor Downs.
Ryansmanonthemoon has won eight of 18 races, and the $60,000 winner’s share of the Dona Ana County Handicap purse boosted his bankroll to $410,081, of which $308,181 was pocketed from eight outs last season. The gelding’s three graded stakes victories include the 440-yard, $200,000 Zia Park Championship (G1) on December 1.
Marcus Medallion finished second, 1 1/2 lengths behind Ryansmanonthemoon, and was followed by Freedom Flash, Jess A Satin Flash, Magnifico Dragon, Siximoons, Chicks Baby Suds, Faster Version, and Rime Chimes.
Marcus Medallion, a gelded son of Jesse James Jr campaigned by Jaime Aldavaz Sr., made his 7-year-old season debut with a fifth- place finish, a half of a length behind winner Major Bites, in the 400-yard, $100,000 Jess Burner Memorial Handicap (RG1) at Sunland
Park on January 4. Marcus Medallion has earned $270,718 from 21 starts, and his three stakes wins include last year’s Dona Ana
County Handicap and First Moonflash Stakes at Albuquerque Downs. The gelding was also a runner up in the James Isaac Hobbs Stakes (G3).
Freedom Flash races for Pierre Amestoy, Leslie Amestoy, and Roger K. Beasley, who also bred the 4-year-old son of champion First Moonflash. Freedom Flash has earned $185,957 from 12 outs, and the gelding’s three wins include a neck victory in last year’s 440-yard, $196,015 New Mexico Cup Derby (RG2) at Zia Park. He ran second in the Jess Burner Memorial Handicap and was third in the New Mexico State Fair Derby.
54 New Mexico Horse Breeder