Bold Moon was a stakes placed grandson of Bold Ruler. He sired two stakes winners and a barrel racing World Champion before his untimely death. Today, his most successful descendants are champion Appaloosas!
Bold Moon was foaled on March 21st, 1970. He was bred by Clary Spencer, Dick Miller II and Lucien Campbell in Kentucky. Bold Moon was by Bold and Brave, a multiple stakes-winning son of champion and leading sire Bold Ruler. Bold and Brave won the Hutcheson Stakes, Jerome Handicap and Royal Palm Handicap. He stood at L. P. Doherty’s The Stallion Station near Lexington, Kentucky. His most successful foal, Bold ‘n Determined, won nine graded stakes races, including the 1980 Gr. 1 Kentucky Oaks. She was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1997. Bold and Brave’s other North American stakes winners included Point in Time, Bold Roll and Maribold. He also sired Sweet Candy, winner of over $1 million in Venezuela, and Amalia R., a Champion Two-Year-Old Filly in Puerto Rico.
Roman Feather, the dam of Bold Moon, was by Catullus, a two-time stakes winner and leading sire in Puerto Rico. Catullus sired champions One Cat and Another Cat. He was influential in Quarter Horse pedigrees through his son Kaskaskia, the sire of 75 AQHA recognized foals. Kaskaskia is best known for siring Coup De Kas, a leading Thoroughbred sire of Quarter Horse racehorses. Papoose, the dam of Roman Feather, was a stakes winning daughter of champion Menow. Roman Feather made six starts, won one race, and earned $1,260 on the tack. Bold Moon was her first foal and the only foal that she produced in Kentucky. Roman Feather moved to Florida where she produced five more foals Tiamat, Royal Roman, Kanpai, Royal Success and Roman Guide – for breeders Thomas F. O’Neil and J. M. O’Farrell Jr. All her foals were race winners.
Bold Moon began racing at age three. He won three races that year and earned $11,110. The following year, he won three more races and placed third in the 1974 Ruidoso Sprint Championship Stakes. As a five-year-old, he won two races, including an Allowance race against Quarter Horses at La Mesa Park in Raton, New Mexico, where he twice equaled the track record for 5 furlongs. He also placed third in the 1975 Sandia Handicap at Albuquerque. Bold Moon continued racing until he was seven years old. He retired with a record of 39 starts, eight wins, six seconds, and four thirds, with $25,607 in earnings, which is the equivalent of about $135,000 today.
Bold Moon covered his first mares while he was still racing. His first foal, Bold Moon Ruler, was a brown Quarter Horse gelding that earned just $50 on the track. His 1976 foal crop included Racing Register of Merit earners Moonlight Sparkle, Bold Story and Shootamoon.
In 1977, while Bold Moon was running his final races, his first stakes winner, Bold Clipper, was born. Bold Clipper was bred by Clary Spencer and John Holton in Oklahoma. He was a sorrel Quarter Horse stallion out of Cute Moon, a stakes placed daughter of Top Moon. Bold Clipper won the 1979 Eyes of Texas Futurity at G. Rollie White Downs in Brady, Texas. He went on to sire 28 AQHA registered foals. Bold Clipper also sired APHA race winner Pathway of Tears and ApHC race winners Coupon Clipper, Favorite Rose and Favorite Party. Notably, Coupon Clipper set an Appaloosa track record at Fairmount Park for 350 yards in 18.060 seconds. Favorite Rose also set a track record there for 330 yards in 17.460 seconds. Favorite Party was the second dam of Apollos Second Sign, winner of the 2017 Cricket Bars Futurity, Allies Favorite Sign, the 2020 ApHC Racing Champion Three-Year-Old Filly, and Mr Apollo Blue, the 2022 ApHC Racing Champion Three-Year-Old Colt. Bold Clipper also sired ApHC leading dam, Miss Bold Z, producer of race winners Good Vision and Mia Bold Okey, as well as ApHC leading dam Emmas Vision.
Bold Moon’s most successful Quarter Horse starter, Bold Love, was also foaled in 1977. Bold Love was bred by Thelma Spencer in Oklahoma. She was a sorrel mare out of a race-winning daughter of Top Moon. Bold Love won fifteen races, including the 1980 Midway Winter Derby, 1981 Jet Deck Handicap and 1981 World’s Championship Classic. She also set a new track record at Blue Ribbon Downs for 300 yards in 15.480 seconds. She later lowered that record to 15.470 seconds and equaled the World Record for 400 yards in 19.180 seconds. Bold Love only had one Quarter Horse foal, a sorrel stallion by Rocket Wrangler named Bold Loveit. He earned a Racing ROM and sired 21 AQHA registered foals.
When Bold Moon finally retired from racing, he stood at Kenneth Coleman’s Evergreen Valley Ranch in Prague, Oklahoma. The year after Bold Love set a new World Record, the number of mares on his books doubled. He sired stakes placed runners Bold Cutie, Bold Terrie Jane, My Bold Bonnie and Bold Memories, but he sadly never sired another stakes winner. Bold Moon passed away in 1983 at the Midwest Stallion Station in Kress, Texas. He was just thirteen years old.
In 1990, Bold Country, ridden by Kathryn Solomon, was the AQHA Senior Barrel Racing World Champion. Bold Country was a black gelding by Bold Moon and out of Moon’s Ladybug, by Top Moon. He made six starts and earned $96 on the track before starting his barrel racing career. Bold Country earned 310.5 performance points and Superior Barrel Racing awards in the Open and Amateur divisions. Other performance point earners by Bold Moon included Care Free Moon and Bold Be Sure.
In total, Bold Moon sired 102 Thoroughbred and Quarter Horse foals in ten foal crops. They included 34 ROM earners, 30 race winners, eight stakes finalists, two stakes winners, one Superior Race Award earner and one World Champion. His offspring earned $217,910 on the track and 317.0 points in the arena.
Daughters of Bold Moon produced 119 Quarter Horse foals that earned $126,633 on the track and 437.0 points in the arena. Ms Moonuino, a sorrel mare by Boomuino and out of Moonlight Gin, was the only stakes winner out of a Bold Moon mare. She won the 1993 Kansas Bred Derby at The Woodlands. Moonlight Gin also produced Ima Gin Whiz, sire of nearly fifty racehorses and barrel horses.
Bold Story may have been Bold Moon’s best producing daughter. She was the dam of Feelin High, the highest money earner out of a daughter of Bold Moon. Feelin High won eleven races and set a new track record at Blue Ribbon Downs. Bold Story also produced Racing ROM earners Early Stride and Bullys Story, as well as Superior Barrel Racing award earner Chicks Story. Billy O Boy, a brown gelding by Bully Bullion and out of Katie BS Moon, by Bold Moon, placed sixth in Junior Barrel Racing at the 1995 AQHA World Show. Sixastraw, the highest point earner out of a Bold Moon mare, qualified for the World Show in Working Hunter, Equitation Over Fences, Hunter Hack, Pleasure Driving and Jumping.
Although Bold Moon did not sire many foals before his death, his descendants are still doing well in racing, barrel racing and other performance events today!
Sources: Equineline, Equibase, American Quarter Horse Assocition, Speedhorse Magazine, All Breed Database
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