First Moonflash Dies

First Moonflash, the sport's 2009 champion aged stallion and one of American Quarter Horse racing's leading sires, was humanely euthanized on Wednesday after a battle with laminitis. He was 14.

Owned by a partnership, First Moonflash stood his entire career at W.L. and Dee Mooring's Double LL Farm at Bosque, New Mexico. The son of champion First To Flash and the stakes-placed Major Rime mare Nagano Moon was bred in New Mexico by Dosi and Norma Alvarez, and he was campaigned by Pierre and Leslie Amestoy and Maria Gonzalez.

First Moonflash won 14 of 25 starts and earned $969,828, and his 10 stakes wins included the Championship at Sunland Park (G1) in 2008 and '09, and the 2009 New Mexico Cup Championship (G1) at Zia Park. He was voted AQHA champion aged stallion after a 4-year-old campaign during which he won seven of eight outs, including six stakes, and banked $491,040.

First Moonflash was also a finalist in the '08 All American Derby (G1) at Ruidoso, and the following season he set world records at the 300-, 400-, and 440-yard distances at Sunland Park.

First Moonflash entered stud in 2010. At the time of his death, the stallion had sired the earners of more than $15.8 million from seven crops, including 2018 champion 2-year-old Flash And Roll, 2013 champion 2-year-old Handsome Jack Flash, 2014 champion 3-year-old filly Foxy Moonflash, and 2014 All American Derby (G1) winner Too Flash For You.

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