Thoroughbred Owners of California Honors Samantha Siegel With Ed Friendly Award

The Thoroughbred Owners of California named Samantha Siegel as this year's recipient of the Ed Friendly Industry Service Award, also known as the TOC Chairman's Award. The announcement, made March 24, connects the honor to one of California's most enduring ownership legacies.

Siegel, who races as JayEmEss Stable, is an active owner and breeder whose family has been involved in California Thoroughbred racing for more than five decades. Her late father, Mace, was a founding member of the Thoroughbred Owners of California. The stable name itself is a tribute: JayEmEss represents the first initials of Samantha and her late parents, Jan and Mace. Mace and Jan met on a blind date at Aqueduct in 1962 and bought their first horse in 1964.

The racing record Siegel has built under that banner is the kind that makes the award easy to justify. JayEmEss has campaigned many graded stakes winners, including multiple Grade I winners Urbane, I Ain't Bluffing, and Include Me Out, Grade I Hollywood Gold Cup winner Rail Trip, 2004 champion juvenile colt Declan's Moon, multiple Grade 2 winner Arson Squad, and homebred Grade I winner By the Moon. Declan's Moon stands as the marquee name on that list: his undefeated season resulted in Declan's Moon being voted the Eclipse Award as the American Champion Two-Year-Old of 2004. JayEmEss Stable purchased Declan's Moon for $125,000 at the 2003 Fasig-Tipton Midlantic September yearling sale, a return on investment that no spreadsheet could adequately capture.

Siegel's influence extends well beyond the ownership box. She is also passionate about horse retirement and serves on the board of CARMA and as Treasurer of that organization. The TOC website also notes her board membership with the Edwin J. Gregson Foundation. She was elected to the TOC Board of Directors in the 2025 election cycle, with her family's philanthropy in the California industry stretching back to at least 2008, when Mace Siegel stood up at a CARMA fundraiser and pledged $200,000, then challenged other industry participants to show their support for racehorse retirement programs.

Presented annually, the award honors individuals who have made outstanding contributions to the Thoroughbred racing industry. The list of past recipients reads like a who's who of California racing: recent honorees include Hronis Racing (2025), Rick Gold (2024), Mike Pegram (2023), and Josh Rubinstein (2022), while the award's earlier roll call includes Bob Baffert (2016), Art Sherman (2015), and Jerry and Ann Moss (2011). The award is named for Ed Friendly, the 2003 inaugural recipient.

Siegel will be honored at TOC's Annual Meeting at Del Mar on Saturday, August 15. For a family whose story began at a racetrack on a blind date more than six decades ago, the setting couldn't be more fitting.