Page 53 - February 2016 Speedhorse

moonist si 105, $1,689,388
Champion Aged Horse, Champion Aged Gelding
Beduino TB Chicks Beduino
A Classy Chick
Hempen TB
Romany Royal Jo-Ann-Cat Chick’s Deck Mayshego TB Indian Hemp Serry
Jet Deck Go Together
Rocket Wrangler Find A Buyer TB Gallant Jet Rose Bug Romany Royal Jo-Ann-Cat Dash For Cash Ought To Go
Grey Sovereign Romany Belle Rejected
Quick Eye
Three Chicks Decketta Mayhego Aegean Goddess Nasrullah
Sabzy
Spy Song
Santa Roseanna Moon Deck Miss Night Bar Brazos Bar
Go Harriett
Rocket Bar TB Go Galla Go To Market Hide And Seek Jet Deck
Leo Jewel
Lady Bug’s Moon Casco Rose
Grey Sovereign Romany Belle Rejected
Quick Eye Rocket Wrangler Find A Buyer TB Go Man Go
Do Good Bam
Nasrullah Kong Vilmorin Romany Chi Revoked
By Line
Depth Charge
Eye To Eye
Three Bars TB Chicado V
Top Deck TB
Lady Thomas Wilson Corporal II
Cathy
Greek Song
Faithful More Nearco
Mumtaz Begum Stardust
Sarita
Balladier
Mata Hari Rosemont
Sandury
Top Deck TB Moonlight Night Barred
Belle Of Midnight Three Bars TB Lassie’s Joy
Go Man Go
Hy Harriett
Three Bars Golden Rocket Go Man Go
La Galla Win Market Wise Pretty Does Alibhai Scattered Moon Deck Miss Night Bar Leo
Linda Jewel Top Moon
FL Lady Bug Levan
Prissy Hankins Nasrullah Kong
Vilmorin Romany Chi Revoked
By Line
Depth Charge Eye To Eye Rocket Bar TB Go Galla Go
To Market Hide And Seek Top Deck TB Lightfoot Sis War Bam TB Do Good
Separatist
Seperate Ways
Jet Together MOONIST, ‘11, g.
First Down Dash
Your First Moon
Moon Arisen
Dash For Cash
First Prize Rose
Beduino TB
Goin For Cash
Breeder: Vessels Stallion Farm, LLC Owner: Ronald J. Hartley
Trainer: John Cooper
Jockey: Cesar DeAlba
2015 Record: 10-7(5)-2(2)-1(1), $342,276, Robert L. Boniface LA Invit.-G1, Spencer Childers Cal Brds.’-RG1, Go Man Go H.- G1, Kaweah Bar H.-G3, Katella H., 2nd Los Alamitos Winter Champ.-G1, Champ. Of Champ.-G1, 3rd Vessels Mat.-G1
As a three year old, Moonist pulled off a feat that no other horse ever had, winning 4 derbies at Los Alamitos to earn 2 Championship titles. So, what did he do for an encore? In 2015 at age 4, he simply went out and won 5 stakes at Los Alamitos, walking off with the Aged Champion and Aged Gelding titles. “He’s a once-in-a-lifetime type of a horse,” said Ron Hartley, who owns Moonist.
Moonist has spent his entire career at Los Alamitos, and he raised his total victories to 20 in 2015. He is one of the most popular horses to run at the track. Trained by John Cooper and ridden all year by Cesar DeAlba, Moonist began 2015
by winning his trial and then running second by just a head to Champion Matabari in the Los Alamitos Winter Championship-G1. He clipped off sparkling victories in the Katella Handicap, Kaweah Bar Handicap-G3, and his trial for the Vessels Maturity-G1 before running third in the final because he false broke at the start.
During the summer and fall, Moonist could do no wrong. First he took the Spencer Childers California Breeders’ Championship-RG1 by an astounding 2 1/2 lengths.
“He always has his focus on running,” said an exuberant Hartley after that victory.
Moonist returned for a 1 1/4-length triumph in the Go Man Go Handicap-G1 under 129 pounds to earn a berth in the Champion of Champions-G1. He then added a win in the Robert L. Boniface Los Alamitos Invitational Championship-G1.
It took a future World Champion, three year old Heza Dasha Fire, to keep Moonist from first in the Champion of Champions. Moonist ran an excellent second to defeat a field that included Quirky, another 2015 Champion.
Hartley bought Moonist for $21,500 at the 2012 Los Alamitos Equine Sale, and the gelding through the end of 2015 had earned $802,194. Vessels Stallion Farm LLC bred Moonist in California from Champion Your First Moon, whose wins included the 2001 Los Alamitos Million Futurity-G1. Moonist’s sire, Champion Separatist, was another Los Alamitos star, so perhaps it’s not surprising that Moonist loves the California racetrack.
Moonist wins the Kaweah Bar Handicap at Los Alamitos
SPEEDHORSE, February 2016 51
Los Alamitos