A Pollitical Candy V, returning at Ruidoso Downs, was one of the successful foals that pushed Rock Candy SA to earn the Dam of Distinction award.

© Ernesto Salinas, Jr. / StallioneSearch

AMERICAN QUARTER HORSE ASSOCIATION—JANURY 16, 2023— Rock Candy SA has earned the honor of being named an AQHA Dam of Distinction.

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 Grade 1  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 Grade 1-quality race, to be accepted.

Rock Candy SA is a 2013 brown mare by Good Reason SA out of Send Me The Candy by Leaving Memories. Her dam is a half sister to Jess Send Candy, dam to champion and All American Futurity (G1) winner Jess Good Candy.

Rock Candy SA was bred by Womack/Cavender Farms and is owned by Valeriano Racing Stables LLC of Odessa, Texas.

To date, the mare has produced six winners from eight starters, who have earned $1,684,855.

Among her runners are All American Derby (G1) winner A Pollitical Candy V ($837,113) and Texas Classic Futurity (G1) winner Rock A Jess V ($675,823). The two Grade 1 winners were both in the top 10 money earners at the close of 2022, to earn the mare the dam of distinction award.

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AQHA News and information is a service of the American Quarter Horse Association. For more news and information, follow @AQHA Racing on Twitter, "like" Q-Racing on Facebook, and visit www.aqha.com/racing.