Gordon Bonas

Gordon Bonas

Article by Alan Trout

Arthur Gordon Bonas – known by his second Christian name – rode ten winners as an amateur before turning professional and adding another 17. He also had a brief ride in the 1950 Grand National. 

Born on February 16, 1929, his first ride was at Leicester on January 14, 1947, when Merry Witton was unplaced in the Evington Hurdle. It was almost a year before he had his initial success when Scottish School beat eight rivals to land the White Lodge Handicap Hurdle at Haydock Park, a race in which another promising amateur jockey, Dick Francis, finished fourth.

Gordon won twice more on Scottish School while still an amateur, as well as five races on T.O.D., trained by Arthur Stephenson, who was then at the start of his illustrious career.

All Gordon’s ten wins as an amateur were gained against professional jockeys. He was still an amateur when partnering T.O.D. over the Liverpool fences in the Becher Chase on November 9, 1949. Although five of the six starters completed the course, there were only two horses in it from a long way out and T.O.D. finished strongly to be beaten three lengths by Paddy Doyle on Royal Mount, the runner-up to 66/1 shot Russian Hero in that year’s Grand National. 

Gordon’s only ride in the Grand National did not go so well, for on March 25, 1950, soon after turning professional, his mount Ole Man River was one of six fallers at the first fence. 

By the end of the 1949/50 campaign he had equalled his previous season’s score of six wins, but he was never to reach that total again. He had two rides in the Scottish Grand National, pulling up on Happy Days in 1950, but finishing fourth on Cream Of The Border in 1952, having been prominent for the first three miles of the race. 

He had his final success on March 15, 1954, when Samudra, trained by his father William Bonas, ran on to beat Arthur Thompson on Bright Bay by three lengths in the Wheatley Park Novices’ Chase at Doncaster. It was Gordon’s only win that season from more than 50 rides. 

His career gradually wound down, with his final ride coming at Wetherby on May 21, 1956, when Original finished a well-beaten third in the Walton Novices’ Chase. 

Gordon Bonas died in 2016.

Gordon Bonas’s winners were, in chronological order:

1. Scottish School, Haydock Park, January 8, 1948

2. Scottish School, Kelso, October 23, 1948

3. Nafferton, Doncaster, November 27, 1948

4. T.O.D., Woore, April 21, 1949

5. T.O.D., Rothbury, April 30, 1949

6. T.O.D., Sedgefield, June 11, 1949

7. T.O.D., Market Rasen, September 24, 1949

8. Scottish School, Hexham, October 1, 1949

9. T.O.D., Hexham, October 3, 1949

10. The Curate’s Egg, Kelso, October 21, 1949

11. Wellington Boot, Perth, April 26, 1950 

12. Duke’s Place, Sedgefield, May 20, 1950

13. The Curate’s Egg, Perth, September 20, 1950

14. Fair Content, Hexham, September 30, 1950

15. Fair Content, Kelso, October 21, 1950

16. Scottish School, Ayr, November 25, 1950

17. Scottish Command, Kelso, May 8, 1951

18. Paul Pry, Perth, September 26, 1951

19. Paul Pry, Hexham, October 1, 1951

20. Duke’s Place, Sedgefield, December 26, 1951

21. Whinfield, Hexham, May 5, 1952

22. Master Craftsman, Hexham, May 5, 1952

23. Samudra,  Kelso, October 18, 1952

24. Samudra, Newcastle, February 21, 1953

25. Unanimous, Hexham, May 25, 1953

26. Unanimous, Sedgefield, June 2, 1953

27. Samudra, Doncaster, March 15, 1954