Written by Lydia Symonds
Beautifully bred filly Bonheur (I Am Invincible) showed she's a 3-year-old filly for the notebook as she chalked up her first career win with a victory at Moe on Tuesday.
Trained by Trent Busuttin and Natalie Young, the daughter of I Am Invincible was having her first start as a 3-year-old having run three times as juvenile, finishing third on debut before running fifth, 1.9l off the winner in the G2 Blue Diamond Prelude (Fillies) on her second start. The filly signed off her juvenile campaign with a 10th-place finish in the G2 Sires' Produce S. at Flemington, coming home 3.8l adrift of the winner.
Ridden by Jye McNeil on Tuesday, Bonheur stayed on strongly to beat Black Samurai (Shamus Award) by 1.3l, while Miss Sassy (Written Tycoon) was another 0.1l away in third.
Bonheur was purchased by her trainers at the Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale for $975,000 in 2021 and she is the fifth foal out of the Group 1-winning mare Bonaria (Redoute’s Choice), who was bred and raced by Robert Anderson.
Anderson retained a share in the filly, while Widden Stud’s Antony Thompson, who offered the mare as part of his Widden Stud draft, bought into the filly after her sale having been impressed with her since the day she was born.
Bonheur as a yearling | Image courtesy of Magic Millions
“She was a rockstar. She was a standout since the day she was born,” Thompson told TDN AusNZ. “Whether it was in the paddock or when she came out for a parade at the sales, people would stop and ask: 'What’s that?'
“She was always beautifully muscled and one of those fillies that never had a winter coat, she always looked like she was about to go into a sale ring - she was that sort of type. She always had a great attitude as well and was just always a star from day one.
“She was bred by a good client of ours, Robert Anderson, who owns the mare outright. Robert had enormous success with the mare, including when she won a Group 1 at Flemington with her, so she has been a special mare for Robert.”
“She (Bonheur) was a rockstar. She was a standout since the day she was born.” - Antony Thompson
Thompson said that he was pleased to see her get her head in front on Tuesday, having always been impressed with her juvenile efforts.
“To be fair to her she ran in some pretty hot races as a 2-year-old and always ran well. Trent and Natalie have always had a big opinion of her. I think she is learning as she goes and she definitely still has a bit to learn,” said Thompson.
The filly holds some high-class nominations, including the G1 Golden Rose S. and G1 Thousand Guineas, but Thompson said no immediate plans as to her future engagements had been discussed.
Antony Thompson | Image courtesy of Inglis
“Trent always thought she would be a good filly over a mile and always thought she could be a Guineas filly, but whether she has quite learned her craft enough I wouldn’t know. I guess this time of year, you have to consider all options for her,” he said.
Bonaria’s eight victories were headed by a win in the G1 Myer Classic as well as three wins at Group 3 level and her enviable record on the track is backed up by her deep page.
The daughter of Redoute’s Choice herself is out of dual-winning Last Tycoon (Ire) mare Decidity, meaning she is a half-sister to Group 3-winning pair Time Out (Rory’s Jester) and Legally Bay (Snippets).
Bonaria when racing | Image courtesy of Sportpix
Legally Bay - who died in 2019 - proved herself one of the very best broodmares, producing dual Group 1 winner and now Coolmore Stud-based stallion Merchant Navy as well as Group 2 winner Jolie Bay (Fastnet Rock) and Setanta (Fastnet Rock).
Bonaria is also a three-quarter sister to Maroon Bay (Exceed And Excel) and Bayrock, who produced the dam of Listed winners Ebhaar (I Am Invincible) and Hindaam (NZ) (Savabeel) respectively.
Meanwhile, Chatoyant (Flying Spur), another of her three-quarter sisters, produced Group 2 winner Paulele (Dawn Approach {Ire}), Group 3 winners Tessara (Medaglia D’Oro {USA}) and Montsegur (New Approach {Ire}), who in turn is the dam of G3 PJ Bell S. winner Heresy (Street Boss {USA}).
Bonheur winning at Moe
In 2020, Bonaria produced a filly by Widden's resident superstar stallion Zoustar who has been educated and will head into training with Danny O’Brien, while her yearling filly by Pierro, could be heading to the sales ring next year, but nothing has yet been decided.
“Robert was here the other day and I guess his initial thoughts were to keep fillies from that family, but we did show the Pierro filly to both sales companies, Magic Millions and Inglis, the other day and they are keen to see her at either January or Easter, so we will see where we go from there,” said Thompson.
