Page 122 - NM Summer 2023

ZIA PARK
Photos by Coady Photography
NM QH Fillies & Mares Champ.-RG1
First Moonflash
First To Flash
Nagano Moon
Mi Camila TB
Southern Halo
Lady Of Tralee
MI MOONFLASH
Mi Moonflash rallied to win the December 11, $125,000 New Mexico Filly & Mare Championship (RG1) for state-bred distaffers at Zia Park.
Trained by Todd Fincher for owners Pierre J. Amestoy Jr., Leslie Amestoy and Roger K. Beasley, Mi Moonflash covered 400 yards in :19.490, and her margin of victory was a half of a length from EZ
On My Mind. Alfredo Sigala rode the homebred 5-year-old daughter of champion First Moonflash.
Mi Moonflash was stretching out in distance off of her neck win as the 8-5 favorite in the 350-yard, $40,000 New Mexico Cup Distaff Championship (R)
at Zia Park on October 29. The brown mare’s sire, First Moonflash, was a son of champion First To Flash and was the sport’s champion aged stallion in 2009. Racing from 2007-09, First Moonflash won 14
of 25 races and earned $969,828, and his 10 stakes wins included the 2007 New Mexico State Fair Senor Futurity (RG3)
at Albuquerque Downs, and the 2008 and 2009 Championship at Sunland Park (G1).
First Moonflash entered stud in 2010, and to date he has sired the earners of more than $25.9 million from 10 crops, including two-time champion Flash And Roll, and
champions Handsome Jack Flash and Foxy Moonflash, and 2014 All American Derby (G1) winner Too Flash For You. The stallion died at the age of 14 due to complications from laminitis in May 2019.
Mi Moonflash is out of Mi Camila (TB), a winning daughter of Southern Halo.
A 1998 Kentucky-bred foal, Mi Camila produced four winners from as many Thoroughbred starters, including multiple stakes winner Bonndaddy’s and stakes winner Mi Domscat.
Mi Moonflash traces back to her fourth dam, Cream Sauce, a winning daughter of Sauce Boat and a half sister to European stakes winners Montelimar and L’Extra Honor.
Campaigned exclusively in New Mexico, Mi Moonflash has won eight of 23 races -- including five of 15 at the 400-yard distance -- and the $73,200 winner’s share of the purse from her third stakes win pushed her bankroll to $310,357. The mare’s resume includes a head victory in the October
1, $55,000 Champagne Lane Stakes at Albuquerque Downs. She also was a finalist in the 2019 New Mexico Cup Futurity (RG2) at Zia Park and New Mexico State Fair Futurity (RG3) at Albuquerque Downs.
EZ On My Mind earned the $24,440
runner-up share of the purse for her owners, David and Jeni Ellis. A homebred daughter of the Strawfly Special stallion Genuine Strawfly, the 5-year-old sorrel mare has won five of 13 starts and has banked $139,513.
Fanncee ran third, three-quarters of a length from Mi Moonflash. A homebred 4-year-old daughter of Big Daddy Cartel and 2015 champion sophomore filly Astica racing for Mac and Janis Murray’s MJ Farms at Veguita, New Mexico, the gray mare has earned $161,098 from 12 outs
-- all in New Mexico -- and her record includes second place runs in the 2020 New Mexico State Fair Futurity (RG3) at Albuquerque Downs and 2021 Zia Derby (RG2) at Ruidoso Downs.
120 New Mexico Horse Breeder