Blink Bonny

Blink Bonny (1854–1862) was a British Thoroughbred racehorse and broodmare. In a career that lasted from 1856 to 1858, she ran twenty times and won fourteen races. She was the leading British two-year-old of 1856, when she won eight races including the Gimcrack Stakes at York. In 1857 Blink Bonny won five of her seven races and became the second filly, after Eleanor, to defeat the colts in The Derby. In the same season, racing against her own sex, she won The Oaks, the Lancashire Oaks, and the Park Hill Stakes.

Having retired from racing in 1858, Blink Bonny showed exceptional promise as a broodmare, producing three top class racehorses before her premature death in 1862. Blink Bonny was one of only six fillies to win the Derby, and has been regarded by both contemporary and modern authorities as one of the best fillies in Thoroughbred racing history.

Blink Bonny was a powerfully built bay filly standing 15.2½ hands high with a narrow white blaze and one white fetlock. According to some reports, she was a difficult horse who was unpopular with stable staff on account of her "nasty temper", while others described her as being "remarkably docile." She was bred at Spring Cottage, Malton, North Yorkshire by her owner William I'Anson who also trained the filly at his Hungerford House stable. I'Anson, a Yorkshireman born at Middleham, named the filly after a turnpike-gate in Edinburgh, through which he regularly passed when traveling to England.

Blink Bonny was sired by Melbourne, a useful but unexceptional racehorse who became a hugely successful stallion, described by the Farmer's Magazine as "far away the best" of his time: apart from Blink Bonny, he sired the Classic winners West Australian, Sir Tatton Sykes, Canezou (1000 Guineas), Marchioness (Oaks), Mentmore Lass (1000 Guineas) and Cymba (Oaks). He was Champion sire in 1853 and 1857. Her dam, Queen Mary, was one of the most important broodmares of the nineteenth century. She was "a queer-tempered mare, very wild in the paddock, and blowing defiance to any stranger who approaches her or hers." Apart from producing many good winners, her influence has continued to the present day, with her direct descendants including the 2002 European Horse of the Year Rock of Gibraltar.

As a two-year-old, I'Anson ran Blink Bonny eleven times. She made her first appearance at York on 22 April when she finished third in the Zetland Stakes and she was third again in the Mostyn Stakes at Chester in May. Two weeks later she recorded her first win in the Sapling Stakes at Manchester. Blink Bonny then won her next four races, taking the Bishop Burton Stakes at Beverley, the Tyro Stakes at Newcastle, the Great Lancashire Produce Stakes at Liverpool and the Bentinck Memorial Stakes at Goodwood. She was sent to York in August where she was beaten by Lady Hawthorn in the Convivial Stakes, but won the Gimcrack Stakes two days later, beating the good colts M. D. and Skirmisher. She ran twice at the St Leger meeting at Doncaster in September, winning the Filly Stakes and a Sweepstakes in which she gave four pounds to colts including Adamas and Skirmisher.

Blink Bonny earned a total of £2,201 during her first season. I'Anson turned down several offers for the filly, who went into the winter break as the favourite for the following year's Derby.

During the winter of 1856–57, Blink Bonny developed severe problems with her teeth ("dentition fever") which left her unable to eat normally. Stable staff had to hand-feed the filly on clover and other green stuff but she lost a great deal of weight before she recovered. Her status as favourite for the Derby made her a potential target for gamblers and bookmakers who stood to lose money if she were to succeed, and I'Anson reportedly purchased a ferocious bloodhound to patrol and guard the stables. As a result of the filly's problems, I'Anson was unable to train her as thoroughly as he would have wished, but nevertheless entered her for the 1000 Guineas at Newmarket, believing that she could win without being fully fit. She started favourite, at odds of 4/5 in a field of eight fillies. Blink Bonny tracked the leaders in the early stages, but two furlongs from the finish she began to show "symptoms of defeat" and faded to finish fifth behind Imperieuse.

Blink Bonny's defeat at Newmarket led to a loss in public confidence, and at Epsom on 1 June she started at odds of 20/1 in a field of thirty for the Derby. After a number of false starts, the race got under way and Blink Bonny, ridden by John "Jack" Charlton, was among the leading group from the start and was one of nine horses disputing the lead early in the straight. The filly hit the front a furlong out and prevailed by a neck from the 200/1 outsider Black Tommy in a "blanket finish", with the first six horses crossing the line in a group. The winning time of 2:45.0 broke the race record by three seconds. Her victory was met with surprise and disappointment by the professional gamblers, many of whom had lost heavily on the result. Two days after winning the Derby, Blink Bonny reappeared in the Oaks, for which she started the 4/5 favourite against twelve other fillies including Imperieuse. She was towards the rear in the early stages but moved up to take the lead two furlongs from the finish and won, according to the Sporting Review, with "ridiculous ease" by at least eight lengths from Sneeze, with the other runners, including Imperieuse, finishing "at long intervals."