Our Unbridled Gem has delivered her first Gem, a bay filly by Uncle Mo, on March 1, 2015 weighing in at 102 lbs. You can see from the photo that mama loves her first Gem. Rosecrest Farm is lucky to have a history with Our Unbridled Gem (aka Sissy – more about that later).  She was here as a foal in 2009, while her dam Miss Gem was being bred.  So let me tell you about Miss Gem, the granddam (aka grandmother) of this new filly.

Pam Mattox at Rosecrest Farm with Miss Gem and Sissy at her side.

Miss Gem was very special to Pam and Don Mattox, since she was the first thoroughbred broodmare they owned together.  Miss Gem was a winner at the track but she was an outstanding broodmare.  She produced 12 foals, of which 11 got to the track and 10 of them were winners. Now, that’s really good, but it gets even better.

Her foal Meadow Gem was a graded blacktype winner and High Adventure was blacktype placed.  If you are not involved in thoroughbred racing you may not understand just how hard it is to have a winner, much less black type winner.

Miss Gem and her second foal later named Native Trinket —  who became the dam of $1 million mare Golden Artemis and granddam of Alcibiades S.-G1 winner My Conquestadory.

AND, better yet, Miss Gem’s second foal was a filly named Native Trinket. See right for a picture of them together.  Native Trinket was sold as a yearling, won six races and $130,000+.

The Mattoxes bought her back after her racing career, bred her to Malibu Moon and sold her in foal.  The foal she was carrying, Golden Artemis, was stakes placed and produced MY CONQUESTADORY, winner of the 2013 Grade I Darley Alcibiades Stakes at Keeneland!

My Conquestadory ran 6 times.  Every start was in a  graded stakes, including her first start, which was a grade 2, in which she ran against the boys and beat them.  As a result, Golden Artemis sold at the 2013 Fasig-Tipton November Sale for $1 million!

My Conquestadory’s great-grandma, Miss Gem, had a wonderful disposition and was a really good mama. So it was a very sad time for Pam and Don last year when Miss Gem quietly passed away at the age of 22, while at home on their farm.  They feel fortunate to have two of her daughters, Our Unbridled Gem and Malibu Gem (due later this month, another story waiting).

So, back to Our Unbridled Gem…she is known as Sissy.  She got her nickname when she was a yearling and Pam and Don got a new puppy named Cali.  Cali and this yearling bonded like two sisters.  They slept together, played together… even grazed together (yes, grazed together). They were like very close sisters, thus “Sissy”. Sissy showed promise at the track, but an injury kept her from ever showing her true talent.

The Mattoxes hope she can continue Miss Gem’s success as a broodmare.  She has already shown she is a good mama.