Bonniegirl (NZ) Claims Valuable Black-Type Win in NZB Finance Sprint

Highly talented mare Bonniegirl (NZ) (Darci Brahma) greatly enhanced her value as a broodmare with a first stakes win in Saturday’s $50,000 Listed NZB Finance Sprint (1200m) at Hastings.

Bonniegirl was the winner of five of her 15 starts before Saturday’s race, and she also ran third in last year’s NZB Finance Sprint and fourth in the Group 3 Taranaki Breeders’ Stakes (1400m). A half-sister to Group 3 winner So Wotif (NZ) (Iffraaj), all she needed was a black-type win of her own.

Four of Bonniegirl’s wins had come in a fresh-up state, and trainers Murray Baker and Andrew Forsman used that trait to great effect when they placed her in Saturday’s race for the first start of a new campaign.

With Matt Cameron in the saddle, she settled towards the back of the 12-horse field. She was still in ninth place at the top of the straight and had a lot of work to do as the defending champion Passing Shot (NZ) (Swiss Ace) sprinted through the inside to take a clear lead.

But Bonniegirl stretched out impressively in the last 200 metres to run down Passing Shot, holding out a fast-finishing Underthemoonlight (NZ) (El Hermano) to win by a short neck.

Bought by Baker for $85,000 at the 2013 Select Sale, Bonniegirl has now had 16 starts for six wins, earning $111,285 for her owner, the estate of the late Ian McCarrison.

“We’re rapt to see her do that,” Forsman said. “I’m thrilled for Chris McCarrison (Ian McCarrison’s widow). She got her black-type win today and she really deserved it.

“She’s very good fresh, and she showed that again today. She had a lot to do when they straightened up, and it’s not easy to do that in a pretty holding track. It was a good effort.”