The Jason Miller trained Bonjoy made it back-to-back wins when she arrived with a late rattle to take out the Listed Grandstand Cup over 1500m at Ascot.
The six-year-old mare was sent out as the clear race favourite at $2.80 on the back of her first-up win in the Listed Bunbury Stakes two weeks ago … it was $5 bar one … but, the way the race unfolded, the daughter of Maschino had to work a lot harder than the betting suggested she would have to do to secure her thirteenth career victory.
Winless in 5 starts at her previous campaign, 6YO mare Bonjoy has now made it 2 stakes victories in a row since resuming with a blistering finish in the Listed Grandstand Cup over 1500m at Ascot.
With 13 wins and 5 placings from 26 starts, Bonjoy won her first black type race –… pic.twitter.com/b8S55wmURT
— Aushorse (@Aushorse_TBA) March 21, 2026
Her regular jockey Clint Johnston-Porter took Bonjoy back from her wide barrier (she drew barrier number twelve out of thirteen) and had her racing in second last place, all of eight lengths off the lead in the early part.
The strong speed up front was always going to suit the mare though and Johnston-Porter was content to hold that rearward position at a comfortable gallop.
It was a confident ride, but the tactic looked to have hit a hurdle early in the home straight where, still with six lengths to make up, Bonjoy found herself facing a wall of horses in front of her with limited opportunities to plot a pathway forward.
Johnston-Porter had no option but to angle Bonjoy out wider on the track. She was briefly inconvenienced when making the switch, but by the time she passed the 200m mark, Bonjoy was in the clear and was still full of running.
She needed to be.
Bonjoy brought a five length deficit down to three-and-a-half lengths with 100m left to run, and she was now going through her gears quickly, ramping up her momentum to charge home and finish right over the top of Fast Flicker ($7.50), who had looked a likely winner after taking over from Avoidance ($26) halfway up the straight, to win going away by 0.48 lengths,
The $21 chance Sensessional also hit the line hard to claim a close-up third place.
This was repeat of the Bunbury Cup result. Bonjoy, who is unbeaten in two starts this preparation, beat Fast Flicker home by a 0.16 length margin on that occasion.
This win pushed her earnings up to a very healthy $733 825.
