ON A MISSION FROM GOD

The Blues Brothers were ‘On A Mission From God’ in the 1980 cult movie starring John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd. The award winning film is still popular a generation after its release and now the name has been reprised by a God’s Own galloper.
Karl Patterson from Thoroughbred Express takes the pulpit …

Onamissionfromgod (2g God’s Own - Carbonated by Kenny’s Best Pal) showed plenty of determination to win the Drink Drive Bloody Idiot Maiden (1170m) at Wangaratta last Sunday (11 April). He appeared to be struggling behind front-runner Dash For Magic in the straight but lifted under Mark Pegus to defeat the leader by a head.
Onamissionfromgod (above) is trained by Alicia Macpherson at Kilmore and among the part-owners are her sister Emily and father Clive who is a big fan of God’s Own.
“We went out and bought another two of them after Onamissionfromgod,” Clive Macpherson said this week. “His stock are real work horses. You can serve it up and they lap it up.
“Onamissionfromgod is still green and we will give him another run at the provincials before heading to town,” Macpherson added. “Long-term, I would like to think he can develop into a Guineas horse.”
Onamissionfromgod was a $34,000 buy (for David O’Callaghan from the Eliza Park draft) at the 2009 Inglis Melbourne Premier yearling sale. He is from a half-sister to G3 winning Melbourne sprinters Intelligent Star (Picnicker) and Blaze The Turf (Blazing Sword). Another half-sister is the dam of G2 winning mare Ortensia (Testa Rossa) who is gunning for a G1 in The Galaxy at Randwick this Saturday.
Elegant Triumph is another good ‘un by God’s Own. The Gerald Ryan trained colt was a certainty beaten on debut at Canterbury last Thursday. He was slowly away and found trouble in transit before flying home to be beaten a nose and a neck by The Last General and Upon This Rock.
God’s Own stands at Eliza Park by arrangement with Yallambee Stud and now has three winners on board following the earlier victories of Heavens Own (Sunshine Coast) and Captain Oates (NZ).
God’s Own was a breath-taking winner of the Group 1 Caulfield Guineas and, like their sire, his first crop were never going to be precocious youngsters. But that didn’t deter trainers going back for a another dip when his second crop of yearlings were offered for sale this year.
Bart Cummings paid $100,000 for a God’s Own - Lashings filly at the NZB Karaka Sale in January. Colm Santry also parted with $100K for a God’s Own - Myrrh colt at the Gold Coast Magic Millions.
But they were trumped by James Bester who weighed in with $310,000 for a God’s Own - Truly colt at the Inglis Easter yearling sale last week. That’s a mighty fine mark-up on the $33,000 (inc gst) he costs a cover at Eliza Park.
Cummings trained the son of Redoute’s Choice and is on record as saying he has everything you look for in a stallion. “God’s Own is by Australia’s dominant sire and possessed an exceptional turn-of-foot,” he explained. “He is a cracking type and is the most impressive stallion prospect that I’ve ever been associated with.”
Cummings has plenty of God’s Own two year-olds on the books and, typically, is giving them time to mature. Among them is Dreamcoat who was placed on debut behind stakes winning youngsters Beneteau and Georgette Silk at Randwick on Australia Day.
Dreamcoat was sent straight out for a spell and will come back for the spring classics.

Photo courtesy of Slickpix