Racing: Bonneval wins Horse of Year again

Bonneval (8) beats some gun horses in the Group I Underwood Stakes at Caulfield last spring. Photo / Getty Images

Bonneval has become a dual Horse of the Year winner.

The Cambridge mare defended the title she won last year as a 3-year-old when taking the premier prize at the New Zealand Thoroughbred Horse of the Year Awards in Auckland last night.

She is the fifth successive Horse of the Year winner trained by Murray Baker and Andrew Forsman. The record-breaking training partnership prepared the 2014 winner Dundeel, who was followed by Mongolian Khan (2015 & 2016) and Bonneval.

The Horse of the Year 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 also voted the champion middle distance performer for the 2017-18 season and the Baker and Forsman partnership was named Trainer of the Year.

Kawi (sprinter-miler), Avantage (2-year-old), Savvy Coup (3-year-old), Charles Road (stayer) and Wise Men Say (jumper) were the winners of the other horse categories.

Premiership winner Sam Collett was voted Jockey of the Year and Isaac Lupton was named Jumps Jockey of the Year for the third time.

The prestigious NZ Thoroughbred Racing Contribution to Racing Award went to prominent breeder Nelson Schick, who has been the driving force behind Windsor Park Stud.

Bonneval dominated the voting in the middle-distance category and received almost two-thirds of the votes for Horse of the Year. She topped the Horse of the Year poll with 40 votes, 25 more than Avantage. Kawi, NZ Oaks winner Savvy Coup and NZ Derby winner Vin De Dance were the others to attract votes.

Bonneval, who trialled at Taupo last Wednesday, had only four starts in her 4-year-old season but was the standout Kiwi performer at the Melbourne spring carnival.

She won the Group II Feehan Stakes (1600m) at Moonee Valley fresh-up and then beat the multiple Group I winners Hartnell and Gailo Chop in the Group I 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.

Baker and Forsman, who won 146 races during the season, were unanimous winners of the Trainer of the Year award. The partnership set new benchmarks for New Zealand trainers, with a record number of domestic wins and record stake earnings.

Their 142 wins in New Zealand eclipsed their own record of 114 wins and their team earned more than $4.7 million in stakes in New Zealand. It was first time any stable had topped $4 million in a season.

The Baker-Forsman partnership, which produced five individual Group I winners and won 24 black type races in total, also earned A$1.6m in stakes in Australia, bringing the total stake earnings for the season to more than $6m.

Avantage, who won five of her six starts, received all bar one of the 61 votes cast in the 2-year-old category and Wise Men Say dominated the jumpers category.

The tightest contest was for Owner of the Year. Wellington owner Lib Petagna, who races under the JML Bloodstock banner, was successful for the third successive year but was just two votes clear of Archer Equine Investments, the owners of Charles Road and Bostonian. Petagna was a shareholder in 25 runners in New Zealand and almost a third were either black type winners or group-placed. His racing team included Francaletta, Nicoletta, Maygrove, Sofia Rosa, Gundown, Marcellina, Peaceful and Santa Catarina.

Waikato Stud and stud patriarch Garry Chittick were named Breeder of the Year. It was the sixth time Chittick has earned the title. Waikato Stud bred Savvy Coup, Embellish and Hasahalo, who between them won three of the four group one classics in New Zealand.

- NZ Racing Desk