Dams of Distinction

The broodmares Your First Moon and Jess Sass Me have earned the rare AQHA Dam of Distinction award. Both mares earned their accomplishments by producing multiple racing champions.

The award recognizes the accomplishments of racing broodmares. To qualify for the award, a mare must meet one or more of the following criteria:

• Dams that produced two or more individual AQHA racing champions
• Dams that produced at least three individual Grade 1 stakes winners
• Dams that produced at least two foals ranked in the top 10 money earners of any particular year, as of December 31 of that year, and two G1 stakes winners
• Dams that produced at least three foals that were in the top 10 money earners of any particular year, as of December 31 of that year.

When the award was created, a grandfather clause also allowed mares that had produced at least three individual stakes winners prior to 1983, and those wins were the equivalent of a G1-quality race, to be accepted.

Your First Moon is a 1999 gray daughter of champion First Down Dash out of the Beduino (TB) mare Moon Arisen. Bred in California by Vessels Stallion Farm LLC and now owned by Ramon Vega of Pharr, Texas, Your First Moon was a Grade 1 winner and the sport’s champion 2-year-old and champion 2-year-old filly in 2001.

She is the dam of two champions, including Moonist, who was the 2014 champion 3-year-old and champion 3-year-old gelding, and the 2015 champion aged horse and champion aged gelding; and the 2016 champion aged stallion Moonin The Eagle.

To date, Your First Moon has produced 13 starters, including four stakes winners that have earned $2,174,115.
 

Dam of Distinction Jess Sass Me PHOTO: Courtesy Lazy E Ranch

Jess Sass Me is a 2004 daughter of Mr Jess Perry out of the Grade 1-winning Corona Cartel mare Sassy Smith. Jess Sass Me was bred in New Mexico by Mike Abraham and is owned by Gary and Max Anderson’s Speed LLC of Riverton, Utah.

Jess Sass Me is a Grade 1-placed runner who earned $110,503 in her racing career.

As a broodmare, she has produced 20 starters that have earned $1,238,843. Her Dam of Distinction qualifiers were two of her three foals born in 2012. The first champion was Jess Walking Thru, who was the champion 2-year-old filly of 2014. Then in 2016, Sass Me Blue earned champion aged mare honors.

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