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Look out Melbourne spring carnival, WA racing’s latest star is coming.
A week after Amelia’s Jewel set tongues wagging with her phenomenal Karrakatta Plate win, Alaskan God stamped himself as another exciting prospect from the west when he demolished rivals in the WATC Derby.
The strapping son of Playing God notched his fifth straight win when he overcame a slow start and trouble in the run to bolt in by more than three lengths.
His emergence on the scene wasn’t a surprise to trainer Dan Morton, who has said tongue-in-cheek that if he was ever to have a Melbourne Cup horse, this would be it.
It’s hard to fathom a WA horse making the unthinkable leap from a WATC Derby to Australia’s greatest race in the space of seven months, or even the Caulfield Cup for that matter.
But Morton isn’t afraid to throw his best gallopers in the deep end and who knows where Alaskan God can get to during this year’s spring carnival.
“He’s the sort of horse I’d like to bring east,” Morton said.
“He’s still very raw and new to it, but he’s exciting.
“He’ll go to the paddock now and we’ll have a discussion with his owners, but we might make plans for Melbourne.”
Morton watched the breathtaking Derby win from the sports bar at Crown Casino in Melbourne, where he is based with his quality mare Kissonallforcheeks ahead of her tilt at Saturday’s Victoria Handicap at Caulfield.
Morton loved Alaskan God from the day he bought him for $90,000 at the Magic Millions Perth yearling sale last year.
“I jokingly said if I’m ever going to win a Melbourne Cup, this is the horse,” Morton said.
“He’s just developing into a nice stayer. I think what he’s doing at the moment, there’s still a lot of upside.”
At Ascot, Alaskan God’s high-profile ownership group were on top of the world.
One of them is Fred Fairthorne Jr, who has raced plenty of good horses with Morton such as Scenic Shot and Dainty Tess.
He actually offered Stan Quinlivan and a bunch of female owners, known as the Party On syndicate, to buy into Alaskan God after he had won a Pinjarra maiden and Ascot midweek race.
“My good mate Stan Quinlivan, we’re trying to win a Melbourne Cup before we go and we might just have the horse to do it,” Fairthorne said.
The Party On syndicate took part in this year’s Own The Dream competition. Now they own a WATC Derby winner.
One of Victoria’s most prominent owner-breeders, Col McKenna, is also a part-owner. He is best known for winning the 2016 Caulfield Cup with outstanding mare Jameka.
“Col is good friends with Fred and we actually met him and his wife Janice in England when we won the King’s Stand (with Scenic Blast),” Morton said.
BLACKBOOKERS
All Show
Impressive second behind Snowdome on debut.
Cable Guy
Continues to race well and another win isn’t far away.
STOCKS RISING
Snowdome
Bounced back from first-up defeat with emphatic win.
Brock Lewthwaite
First Ascot Saturday double in consecutive races.
STOCKS FALLING
Favourite backers
Plenty of punters left with empty pockets after all nine favourites were beaten at Ascot.
RIDE OF THE WEEKEND
Chris Parnham showed poise when others might have panicked on Alaskan God in the WATC Derby. After starting slowly Parnham made ground on the inside rail, came off the fence before the turn and got into the clear at the right time to launch his winning run.
