If the ultimate mark of an American Quarter Horse Hall of Fame horse is the mark left on the breed, then Lady Bug’s Moon is an ultimate Hall of Famer.
Bred and owned by Marvin and Lela Barnes of Ada, Oklahoma, Lady Bug’s Moon was by American Quarter Horse Hall of Famer Top Moon and was foaled in 1966 out of one of the breed’s all-time great blue hens, the Sergeant mare FL Lady Bug, also a Hall of Famer.
Trained for the track first by Barnes and later by J.B. Montgomery, Lady Bug’s Moon won the first leg of the Ruidoso Downs triple crown, the Kansas Futurity, and then finished second in the other two, by a head in the Rainbow Futurity and a nose in the American Futurity, the closest any horse ever came to winning the Tres Coronas until Special Effort came along. Lady Bug’s Moon also was third in the Oklahoma Futurity that season and returned the next season to win the Rainbow Derby. Retired at the end of his sophomore season, Lady Bug’s Moon left the track with a 23-11-5-3 record and $191,536.
At stud, the stallion sired 15 crops of foals. Of those foals, 770 were starters, including 491 winners, 40 stakes winners and the earners of $4,031,691.
The fifth-ranked broodmare sire at the time of his death, Lady Bug's Moon sired the producers of the earners of more than $13.2 million. They are led by champion and 1982 All American Futurity winner Mr Master Bug, who was the all-time leading money-earning stallion until that mark was broken by One Dashing Eagle. And when Mr Master Bug won the All American, the second-place finisher was Miss Squaw Hand, whose dam was a daughter of Lady Bug’s Moon. That made Marvin Barnes the first breeder/owner to run 1-2 in Quarter Horse racing’s marquee event.
Lady Bug’s Moon died in 1995. He was inducted into the American Quarter Horse Hall of Fame in 2013.
Biography updated as of March 2013.