Bonneval had an electric sprint that saw her win both the NZ and Australian Oaks

A daughter of Makfi (Dubawi), Bonneval was a $150,000 yearling buy for owners Terry Jarvis, Alister Lawrence and John Rattray in 2015. She's from a very good family and the mare Imposingly has multiple Group winners. Bonneval is a full-sister to the Group winner Imposing Lass (NZ) (Makfi) and a half-sister to the Group winners Full Of Spirit (Flying Spur) and Lady Cumquat (Duke Of Marmalade). Bonneval was placed with Cambridge trainers Murray Baker and Andrew Forsman and was a debut winner in the autumn of the following year.

She had just seven starts as a three-year-old and got better as the 2017 season progressed. She was a luckless third in the Gr.3 Desert Gold Stakes in January before reeling off four successive group wins. She won the Gr.2 Sir Tristram Classic and Gr.3 Lowland Stakes before becoming the first filly since Domino in 1990 to win both the Gr.1 New Zealand and Gr.1 Australian Oaks. Ridden by Matt Cameron in the NZ Oaks, Bonneval got a long way back early and had just three horses behind her in a strung-out 16-horse field as they turned into the back of the track. The hot favourite began to advance as the pace eased down the back of the track, and Cameron decided at about the 600-metre mark that it was time to go. The filly swooped around the outside and surged to the lead. She produced one of the standout performances of the season when winning the Australian Oaks by more than four lengths after being 20L off the lead at one point.

Bonneval only had four starts in her four-year-old season but was easily the standout Kiwi performer at the Melbourne spring carnival showing off her electric sprint. She won the Gr.2 Feehan Stakes (1600m) at Moonee Valley fresh-up and then beat the multiple Group I winners Hartnell and Gailo Chop in the Gr.1 Underwood Stakes (1800m) at Caulfield. She finished sixth, behind Gailo Chop, in the Caulfield Stakes and was unplaced in the Caulfield Cup, when feeling the firm ground. She returned to work in the autumn but suffered a suspensory ligament injury after two trials runs. The Makfi mare was the only New Zealand-trained horse to win a Group one race in Australia in the 2017-18 season and was scheduled to return to Melbourne in the spring.

Bonneval was the first three-year-old filly to be named Horse of the Year since Sunline, in 1999. She was also voted the champion middle distance performer for the 2017-18 season and the Baker and Forsman partnership was named trainer of the year. The Cambridge mare defended that title she won as a 3yo, when taking the premier prize at the New Zealand Thoroughbred Horse of the Year Awards. The award was introduced in 1971 and Bonneval is the eighth horse to have earned the title more than once. The other multiple winners have been Sunline (four times), Show Gate, Rough Habit, Xcellent, Seachange, Mufhasa and Mongolian Khan.

Bonneval was unplaced in two starts in her 2018 campaign and her retirement was flagged after her failure in defence of the Gr.1 Underwood Stakes, obviously not the same horse returning after the injury layoff. Waikato Stud won the race to purchase the two-time New Zealand Horse of the Year and multiple Group One winner Bonneval and the winner of seven of her 14 starts including the 2017 New Zealand Oaks and Australian Oaks. The Matamata nursery acted quickly when her retirement was announced and dug deep to secure the daughter of Makfi.

RACE RECORD - 14: 7-0-1

EARNINGS - $1,680,595

G1 Underwood Stakes

G2 Feehan Stakes 

G1 Australian Oaks 

G1 New Zealand Oaks

G3 Lowland Stakes

G2 Sir Tristram Fillies Classic