Promise matched performance at Eagle Farm last Saturday when the Mike Crooks bred & owned, Mishani Warfare, became the first winner for Aquis Farm’s exciting young sire, The Mission.
Having his third start – after placings at Toowoomba and Eagle Farm – the Les Ross trained, Mishani Warfare, led throughout in the Moet & Chandon 2YO Handicap over 1200m, scoring with almost two lengths to spare.
With a number of first crop The Missions winning trials at Deagon and Doomben, the writing has certainly been on the wall, but notching one up in town this early in the 2YO season was a bonus … quite literally!
In 2018, before The Mission had covered his first mare, Aquis announced a series of breeder bonuses attached to his first season of 2YO runners – ranging from $1 million (should The Mission sire a Group 1 winner in 2021/22 or the 2022 Magic Millions 2YO Classic and/or Inglis Millennium winner/s) right through to $25,000.
It was a bold move by Aquis given that (a) The Mission was a Group 1 winning 2YO [Champagne Stakes], he is (b) by an incredible speed source in Choisir and (c) he is from a daughter of Group 1 winning 2YO, Carry on Cutie and closely related to 2018 Group 3 Maribyrnong Plate winner Vinicunca.
As the breeder (and owner) of Mishani Warfare, a delighted Mike Crooks won the $100,000 bonus which has been allocated to any metropolitan success this season.
“On behalf of Mishani Enterprises, a big thank you for everything!,” Mike Crooks enthused. “Aquis Farm has been the cornerstone of Queensland breeding for the past five years and I’m thrilled to see them getting stronger every year.
“Without Aquis, Queensland breeding and racing would be a long way behind. Incentives such as this (The Mission Breeders’ Bonus) and QTIS keep Queensland breeders in the game and, importantly, it all goes back into the industry.
“As for The Mission, he’s a Group 1 winning stallion and I don’t think people have given him the credit he deserves … but they will!”
Aquis Farm’s Director of Sales, Jonathan Davies, is naturally enough ecstatic with The Mission’s big start, but is also over the moon that Mike Crooks has been the inaugural bonus recipient.
“Mike and Mishani have been tremendous supporters of Aquis and, indeed, The Mission,” Jonathan explains. “Mike has believed in this stallion from the very start and while we’ve been getting terrific feedback from trainers about The Missions for some time, Mishani took the plunge and booked in 16 mares to the stallion before he even had a runner! It’s blokes like Mike that are the lifeblood of the Australian breeding industry and it’s great to see him get such a result.”
As an integral part of the bonus structure, Aquis will allocate 10% of each bonus to a charity of its choice and the first recipient is ‘Turning Canungra Pink’.
“Aquis is very much about supporting the local community and ‘Turning Canungra Pink’ is definitely a worthy cause,” Jonathan adds. “Each October the township of Canungra turns ‘pink’ to raise funds and awareness for all forms of cancer.”
And it’s certainly welcomed by Turning Canungra Pink’s Monqiue Morcus: “On behalf of Turning Canungra Pink, Pink Assist and the local community, we would like to thank Aquis Farm for the very generous donation. This donation will go a very long way, assisting many people affected by cancer.”
