“Today, there wasn’t much pace,” said Geroux, who now has a 6-2-3-0 record aboard Bonny South. Bonny South (middle) defeats Royal Flag (near) and Graceful Princess (Credit: Keeneland Photo) The Brad Cox trainee crossed the wire a head clear, stopping the clock at 1:43.46 for the 1 1/16-mile fast dirt route. Graceful Princess refused to yield along the rail and fought back at the top of the stretch as Royal Flag made a three-wide bid to challenge for the lead, but Bonny South fought hard to keep her foes at bay. Speech gave way heading into the far turn just as Bonny South made her move toward the front, beating the trailing 9/5 second choice Royal Flag to the punch and taking over midway through cornering.
Graceful Princess outkicked the 3/2 favorite Speech heading into the clubhouse turn, then posted opening fractions of :24.11, :48.02, and 1:12.06 while under a tight hold on the backstretch. She’s stewarding a stream management plan, along with other partners, with the aim of restoring recreation and a healthy channel for the South Fork of the Republican River to flow.Bonny South broke from post 5 under Florent Geroux as the 7/2 second choice in the field of six fillies and mares and settled into a mid-pack stalking position outside Eres Tu. While nostalgic for Bonny as a recreational and economic asset, Daniel continues to focus efforts on its site. The dam remains for flood control, but where water once stood and where a natural channel could run, invasive plants like Russian olives have taken hold, with deep root systems that drink up any whisper of flowing surface water. “All of that is gone, they found a different route to take,” she says.
“It had an impact on several different communities in Colorado,” Daniel says.
In Bonny’s prime, people would stop in surrounding towns for fishing licenses, food and lodging en route to the reservoir. She grew up on the reservoir and learned to water ski on it, as did almost everyone else who lived nearby, she says. She had four family members drown in the devastating 1935 flood that killed more than 100 people and sparked the construction of the dam. “The year it was being drained it just made my heart sick,” says Deb Daniel, general manager of the Republican River Water Conservation District, which works to achieve compact compliance, primarily by purchasing and leasing surface water rights and paying for the retirement of agricultural acreage.įor Daniel, attachment to Bonny Reservoir is personal and generational. In draining Bonny, the Republican River Compact Administration released Colorado from insurmountable seepage and evaporation water charges, freeing up more water for compact compliance with downstream states. In a region reliant almost entirely on groundwater, aquifer depletions had depressed surface water flows, and wells were shut off to get enough water across the state line. After 60 years of holding water, Bonny was drained and numerous wells were voluntarily retired to help Colorado send water east to comply with the Republican River Compact. In 2012, Bonny Reservoir, which sits some 12 miles west of the Kansas border on the South Fork of the Republican River, went dry.
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