Page 14 - February 3 2019
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A MARE PERSON
The old girls still deserve recognition.
I’m a mare person, and in my opinion, the old girls deserve all the respect and recognition we can give them.
by Stacy Pigott
I’m a mare person. Always have been, always will be. I like riding them, I like their “mare-ish” attitude that turns so many others off, and I’ve even bred
a few here and there in my day. So I was a little disappointed when I read the announcement that the American Quarter Horse Association has discontin- ued the Broodmare of the Year award.
I can understand their reasoning. A few years ago, the AQHA began their Dams of Distinction program. To be named a Dam of Distinction, a mare must meet one or more of the following criteria:
AQHA Racing Champions;
1 stakes winners;
the top 10 money earners of any particular year,
winners;
in the top 10 money earners of any particular year as of December 31 of that year.
When the award was started in 2006, dams that have produced at least three individual stakes winners prior to 1983 and those wins were the equivalent of a of Distinction title.
A total of 44 American Quarter Horse mares have received this award, with Swingin Otoole the last recipient in 2010. No broodmare met the criteria to receive the Dam of Distinction award in 2011.
In fact, since the AQHA began awarding a Broodmare of the Year in 1993, only eight recipients of the award have also met the qualifications to be a Dam of Distinction. They are: Florentine, Corona Chick, Fortune Of Delight, Separate Ways, Sizzling Lil, Runaway Wave, First Prize Dash, and My Dashing Lady.
Sure, in the long run, the greatest of the blue-
hen mares are known by their ability to produce top runners year after year, and, through their sons and daughters, generation after generation. But there is something to be said for that mare whose offspring have a single banner year on the racetrack. That mare, in my opinion, still deserves recognition.
One of the Broodmares of the Year that would not have been recognized without this award is one of my favorite old mares, Artesia. This family was run-
ning strong at Los Alamitos in 1998, and back then
I was one of the media representatives voting on the AQHA Champions. I am sure I voted for Artesia. She had three offspring on the track in 1998—Artesias Specialchic, Artesias First Down and Artesias Second Down. Artesias Specialchic, the 1997 Champion won two stakes races that year and finished in the top three in several others. The then two-year-old Artesias Second Down broke her maiden and ran in stakes company. No, Artesia didn’t meet the requirements
to be an AQHA Dam of Distinction. But it saddens me to think that this great old mare wouldn’t have received any recognition at all without the Broodmare of the Year award.
As I was talking to my fellow Speedhorse staffers about the demise of the AQHA Broodmare of the Year award, it came to light that Speedhorse, many years ago and long before the AQHA Broodmare of the Year award, had developed and presented our own champion broodmare award. Why not do it again?
And so Speedhorse is proud to announce our Broodmare of the Year award. This annual award will be voted on by you, our readers, making it a true People’s Choice award. We’ll develop a list of the leading dams of money earners, stakes winners and champions for the year and open the voting to the masses. Plans are still underway, so watch future issues of Speedhorse for details.
I’m glad the AQHA has started their Dams of Distinction program, but I’m also glad Speedhorse has stepped in to continue the Broodmare of the Year award. Because I’m a mare person, and in my opin- ion, the old girls deserve all the respect and recogni- tion we can give them.
Artesia, 1998 Broodmare of the Year.
12 SPEEDHORSE, February 3, 2012
UNDER WRAPS
