Classy, tenacious and mega-durable mare Bonny Lass (NZ) (Super Easy) is set to be offered in a special sale launching next week on Gavelhouse Plus.
The daughter of Super Easy was raced by her breeder Sandy Moore in partnership with Brent and Wendy Cooper and their Social Racing Starting Gates Syndicate. She was trained by Graham Richardson and Rogan Norvall through a 26-race career that produced eight wins, eight placings and $774,950 in stakes.
Bonny Lass was a five-time Group winner, headed by the Group One BCD Group Sprint (1400m). She backed that up with another four placings at Group One level.
“She was an absolutely amazing horse for her big group of owners,” Brent Cooper said. “Mark Baker at Hallmark Stud researched it and found that only two mares in New Zealand history won Group races at every age from two to six – Melody Belle (NZ) (Commands) and Bonny Lass.
“The great Sunline (NZ) (Desert Sun) was a Listed winner as a two-year-old from only a handful of starts, so we might be splitting hairs a little bit there. But even so, winning Group races in four consecutive seasons puts Bonny Lass in an incredibly exclusive club.”
Bonny Lass burst on the scene as a two-year-old with wins in her first two starts including the Group Two Matamata Breeders’ Stakes (1200m), followed by placings in the Group One Sistema Stakes (1200m) and Group One Manawatu Sires’ Produce Stakes (1400m).
In her three-year-old season, Bonny Lass won three races including the Group Three Cambridge Breeders’ Stakes (1200m), along with a third behind Group One winners On The Bubbles (Brazen Beau) and I Wish I Win (NZ) (Savabeel) in the Listed Mufhasa Stakes (1400m), plus a fourth in the Group Three Gold Trail Stakes (1200m).
Bonny Lass won the Group Three Sweynesse Stakes (1215m) as a four-year-old, then returned at five for luckless placings in the Group One Sistema Railway (1200m) and Telegraph (1200m). She had her deserved moment in the sun in the BCD Group Sprint at Te Rapa in February, where she edged out the previously unbeaten three-year-old Crocetti (NZ) (Zacinto) by a long head.
A six-start campaign as a six-year-old was headed by a superb first-up win in the Group Two Foxbridge Plate (1200m) at Te Rapa last August, beating the likes of Skew Wiff (NZ) (Savabeel), Waitak (NZ) (Proisir), Mustang Valley (NZ) (Vanbrugh), Puntura (NZ) (Vespa) and Sacred Satono (NZ) (Satono Aladdin).
But out of all of those outstanding performances against top-flight opposition, Cooper has no doubt which performance sits at the top of the pile.
“Her Group One win at Te Rapa was such a special day for all of us,” he said. “I’m good friends with Daniel Nakhle, whose horse Crocetti was defeated for the first time in his career when he ran second that day. He gave all of us his congratulations and said he was delighted for Bonny, and that if anyone had to beat Crocetti in that race, he was glad it was her.
“He said no horse in New Zealand deserved to win a Group One race more than Bonny Lass, and we heard those sentiments from quite a few people that day. It was an outstanding win and an obvious career highlight.”
Bonny Lass is one of three winners from five foals to race out of Posh Bec (NZ) (Le Bec Fin), who herself won three races and placed in the Listed Soliloquy Stakes (1400m). Posh Bec is also the dam of Clark Kent (NZ) (Super Easy), who placed in the Listed Welcome Stakes (1000m), while her half-brother Time To Celebrate (NZ) (Per Incanto) placed at Group Two level in Hong Kong.
Cooper believes Bonny Lass has the attributes to be a quality broodmare.
“Another of her most memorable performances was in the Railway, where she was almost knocked over in the straight but somehow managed to pick herself up and finish second,” he said. “If she can pass any of that bravery and tenacity on to her progeny, she’ll be an outstanding broodmare.”
The sale of Bonny Lass will run on Gavelhouse Plus from 10am (NZT) on Wednesday 7th May to 7pm (NZT) Thursday 15th May.
