Page 38 - NMHBA Spring 2022

Ruidoso Downs Racehorse Hall Of Fame Announces 2022 Inductees
Ruidoso Downs Race Track will induct five individuals and one racehorse into the Hall of Fame during ceremonies scheduled during the track’s 2022 race season, which begins May 27.
“The list of new inductees is incredibly strong,” said Walt Wiggins Jr., a board member of the All American Ruidoso Downs Foundation. “These new members of the Hall of Fame that will be inducted this summer each deserve their recognition and honor. Our board is very proud of this year’s class and each individual selection.”
Members of the Hall of Fame Class of 2022 will be honored at a banquet to be held on Fri- day, July 8, at Ruidoso Downs Race Track. Tick- ets will go on sale for the banquet in the spring.
Here are the members of this year’s class of inductees:
FIRST MOONFLASH
The 2009 AQHA Racing Champion Aged Stallion, First Moonflash won 14 of 25 lifetime starts, $969,828 and 10 major stakes races. First Moonflash also set four world records, including the current 440-yard world record of :20.274.
Bred by Dosi and Norma Alvarez, he raced for the partnership of Pierre and Leslie
Amestoy and Maria Gonzalez. He was later owned by the partnership of Pierre & Leslie Amestoy, Maria Gonzalez, Mike Abraham, and Blanca Villegas-Varela. He stood his entire breeding career at W.L. Moorings Dou- ble LL Farm in Bosque, New Mexico.
Now deceased, First Moonflash has sired 10 crops of racing age, 27 graded stakes win- ners and earners of more than $22,700,000. His leading performing offspring include mil- lionaires Flash And Roll ($1,710,700), Handsome Jack Flash ($1,517,000) and Too Flash For You ($1,065,000).
In 2021, the First Moonflash-sired year- ling, First Texas Flash, sold for $800,000
at the Ruidoso Select Yearling Sale for the highest price ever paid at public auction for a Quarter Horse yearling.
GWENDOLYN EAVES
The late Gwendolyn Eaves, on her own and later in the family partnership
of Eaves Horses, bred numerous stakes- winning Quarter Horses and earned more than $7,785,000. Among the many stakes winners from her breeding program are
A Delightful Dasher, 1999 All Ameri- can Futurity winner and stakes winner of $1,660,525; Hes My Dasher, 1998 Rain- bow Futurity winner and stakes winner of
$575,774; Tres Seis, 2001 All American Futurity runner-up and stakes winner of $856,901; Inseperable, 2008 Rainbow Futu- rity winner and stakes winner of $672,756; Dean Miracle, 1996 Rainbow Futurity runner-up and stakes winner of $199,000; and Fortune Of Delight, the AQHA’s 1999 Broodmare of the Year and producer of five stakes winners and earners of $2,871,000.
She also raced Champion and Ruidoso Downs stakes winner Special Phoebe.
A New Mexico native, Mrs. Eaves and her husband, the late Harry Eaves, lived in Hobbs, New Mexico, for many years. She bought her first racehorse in 1960.
FRED DANLEY
The 79-year-old active trainer is one of the most recognized and respected horsemen in New Mexico horse racing history. In 1961 at the age of 18, Danley got his trainer’s license. By 1963, he had won the Kansas Futurity (now named the Ruidoso Futurity). The fol- lowing year, he trained Merry Go: the fastest qualifier to the 1964 All American Futurity.
A versatile trainer of both Quarter Horses and Thoroughbreds, Danley-trained
Quarter Horses have won more than 1,550 races and earned $20,315,000. His Thoroughbred starters have won more than 1,460 races and
Gary Sumpter
Walt Wiggins Sr.
Gwendolyn Eaves
36 New Mexico Horse Breeder
Photo by Scott Martinez.