2025 U.S. Mating Plans: Bonne Chance Farm

[Wandering Eyes]

In 2025, Bonne Chance Farm celebrates the 10-year anniversary of its Kentucky operation. Since the farm was founded, and with a boutique broodmare band of just 20-some mares, Bonne Chance has been responsible for the likes of Graded/Group 1 victors Arabian Lion (Justify), King Of Steel (Wootton Bassett {GB})and Cambier Parc (Medaglia d'Oro). Bloodstock and Office Manager Leah Alessandroni spoke with TDN about the farm's mating plans for 2025.

BLACK CANARY (m, 11, War Front-Forty Moves, by Gold Fever) to be bred to Nyquist

Already the dam of three foals including a stakes winner in Golden Canary (Medaglia d'Oro), this is a young War Front mare that we have a lot of faith in. She is out of track record setter Forty Moves and was herself a useful racehorse, picking up a stakes placing and hitting the board 81% in her time on the track.

Her American Pharoah yearling is one of our top physicals from the 2024 crop and she's proven to us that she can throw a good-bodied and correct horse. We actually bred her to Nyquist in 2024, landing on him because he compliments her physically and because of the precocity of his foals, which also compliments what we've seen from her. Ultimately she was not in foal last year and after Nyquist had four Grade I winners in 2024, we opted to stick with him.

GOLDEN BALLAD (Ire) (m, 11, Galileo {Ire}-Golden Ballet, by Moscow Ballet) to be bred to Casa Creed.

Golden Ballad has already produced Grade II winner Balladeer (Distorted Humor) when crossed with the Distorted Humor line and is herself the Galileo half-sister to GI Belmont Stakes winner Drosselmeyer (Distorted Humor), so we aren't deviating too far from the path on this mating.

As breeders, one of the things we talk about is being good stewards of the Thoroughbred as a breed and we believe that means supporting horses like Casa Creed. He was an absolute warrior on the track, running for seven years with 36 starts including four Grade I wins. He had a rare combination of speed, earning nine triple-digit Beyer Speed Figures, and soundness. This mare, who has had five foals for us, has shown that she contributes stamina but could use some injection of speed. You have to be careful with that and when they announced Casa Creed would be retiring we were immediately interested in him for her because of everything previously mentioned. Physically the two are very similar–big, rangy types–so we expect the resulting foal to be the same. Golden Ballad is by Galileo and her best foal to date is a Grade II winner on the turf, so we're not saying she can't throw a dirt horse (obviously there is an American Classic winner in the pedigree) but we're not trying to reinvent the wheel with this mating to turf superstar Casa Creed. A good horse is a good horse and we're hopeful this mating will produce a very good turf horse. There is a lot of good money in turf racing in the U.S. right now, hopefully the sale market starts to reflect that.

ELEMENTAR (m, 13, More Than Ready-Val Marie, by Coronado's Quest) to be bred to American Pharoah

Elementar is a More Than Ready mare who is the dam of Grade II winner Ready to Purrform (Kitten's Joy) as well as four other foals including a yearling colt by American Pharoh who sold for $200,000 at last year's Keeneland September Sale to Godolphin. American Pharoah has done well with More Than Ready mares in general but her yearling by him last year was a really nice colt who we were all very high on and who obviously attracted the eye of a top-class buyer. American Pharoah is a stallion we have used almost every year and continue to believe in. He was a great value last year and continues to be this year. There aren't many top 20 stallions standing for under $50,000 who can get you a respectable horse in the ring as well as the track. We haven't done a ton of repeat matings before seeing the on-track results, but this is one that we were all confident in going ahead with considering the quality of the yearling last year and the stud fee.

Unbound, the dam of Spendthrift sire Arabian Lion, will be bred back to Justify in 2025 | Sarah Andrew

UNBOUND (m, 16, Distorted Humor-Possibility, by A.P. Indy) to be bred to Justify

The first time we tried this mating the resulting foal was Justify's first Grade I winner, Arabian Lion. No brainer to go back to him.

PARADISE ALLEY (m, 14, Flower Alley-Sealy Hill, by Point Given) to be bred to Maxfield

Paradise Alley is the Flower Alley half-sister to four graded stakes winners including two-time Grade I winner Cambier Parc. We purchased her after she had already started her broodmare career and she has had two foals for us, including a 2-year-old filly by Justify who we kept to race ourselves. While her broodmare career has yet to produce a star, she has proven to have sound horses and the two she has had for us at least have been good physicals. We know the class and quality is there in the pedigree so we're in a bit of a waiting and building period with her. She is one that we take a hard look at every year to ensure we're giving her, and ourselves, the best chance of success to really build the family and someday try to get back to the level of her own dam, Sealy Hill. We know what Distorted Humor has done as a broodmare sire and Flower Alley in his own right has had some good success on that front, not only internationally but in the U.S. as the damsire of Cyberknife and Smooth Like Strait, to name a few.

Maxfield is a stallion that impressed us right away. Never off the board in 11 starts with two Grade I wins among many other big efforts and a huge page beneath him, but physically we felt he was an absolute standout. We were thrilled to send a mare to him his first year and that resulting filly is a 2-year-old who we kept to race and she's just gorgeous. We love her. His first yearlings sold great which was a testament to the consistent quality of that crop. We were not going to miss using him in 2025. Considering we're playing a bit of a long, likely multi-generational game with this mare, the opportunity to inject two great broodmare sires (in Bernardini and Street Sense) into a page with Distorted Humor and plenty of blacktype was really appealing. Add to that a stallion who is throwing consistently strong physicals and we felt Maxfield gave us a great opportunity to produce something that could ultimately lay a strong foundation to the next branch of what is already a great family tree. At $40,000 the price is right and a good time for us to strike in case he increases as his runners hit the track this year. Obviously, we're hoping for a filly but regardless of the outcome the foal will have a solid injection of class and proven genetics.

 GOIABA (m, 11, Speightstown-Christies Treasure, by Belong to Me) to be bred to McKinzie

Goiaba, by Speightstown, is a really exciting young mare for us. She is a winning full-sister to Japanese Grade I winner Mozu Superflare and from a family that is improving year after year. Her first foal is a winner, she sold a yearling colt by Curlin for $725,000 at last year's Keeneland September sale, and her now 3-year-old filly Por Voce (Medaglia d'Oro) was a good third on debut.  She is a typical Speightstown mare with a lot of substance and McKinzie is a good physical match for her, adding size and stretch. McKinzie was a consistent and sound horse on the track winning Grade I races at two, three, and four and is off to a promising start at stud with two Grade I winners in his first crop! Goiaba has, to date, been bred to proven but older stallions (she is currently in foal to Uncle Mo) so we're excited to send her to such an exciting young sire this year.

Nom de Plume (m, 5, Uncle Mo-Casting Director, by Bernardini)to be bred to Munnings

Nom de Plume is an exciting new addition to the broodmare band. She is a stakes-placed homebred by Uncle Mo who hit the board eight out of her 10 starts, earning nearly $300,000, and is the half-sister to two Grade III-placed horses from a young, rapidly improving and sound family. Uncle Mo was proving to be an influential broodmare sire prior to his death and we're very happy to add one of his daughters to our broodmare band, our first.

As a rule of thumb we don't breed unproven to unproven so when considering a stallion for her first foal we narrowed the pool to those with more than two crops of racing age. Munnings is a stallion we have used with this family in the past (the 2-year-old half-sister to Nom de Plume is by Munnings) with good result and the cross with Uncle Mo has already produced one Grade I winner in Howard Wolowitz. Physically he offers her some size and substance without being too big and of course that infamous Speightstown/Gone West speed! Considering the mare's page, this mating also has the potential to be commercial which is appealing, especially for a first foal.

 ONLY EMOTIONS (m, 4, Distorted Humor–Golden Ballad {Ire}, by Galileo {Ire}) to be bred to Oscar Performance               

Only Emotions is another new homebred addition to the broodmare band for 2025. By Distorted Humor and out of Golden Ballad, she is a winning full-sister to Grade II winner Balladeer. In following our previously mentioned rule of thumb, we had multiple discussions about the right stallion for her and ultimately landed on one we have loved since day one and that's Oscar Performance. While still a young stallion, Oscar Performance has proven that he's a serious addition to the stallion ranks in Kentucky and excels in the critically important category of moving up his mares. He's getting big winners on dirt and turf and from a variety of different pedigree sources. He was another stallion we were not going to miss using in 2025. Some of the same considerations mentioned for her dam Golden Ballad also apply here. 'Oscar' was appealing for her because he offers speed and soundness while also complimenting her mixed (dirt and turf) pedigree. Physically they are similar in size and shape and should result in a good quality foal of the same.

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