By Michael Manley
Gai Waterhouse is confident Alligator Blood can prove he’s a genuine Cox Plate contender when he belatedly begins his Melbourne spring campaign in the group 1 Memsie Stakes (1400 metres) at Caulfield on Saturday.
Alligator Blood was slated to run in the P.B. Lawrence Stakes a fortnight ago at Caulfield but couldn’t as at the start of August, Racing Victoria banned his managing owner Allan Endresz from racing horses as he was an undischarged bankrupt.
Alligator Blood takes out the Stradbroke at Eagle Farm in June.Credit:Michael McInally
Earlier this week RV stewards accepted an application from Endresz that he had transferred the ownership of the horse to a group headed by Harvey Norman and Magic Millions proprietor Gerry Harvey.
Waterhouse said although Alligator Blood was initially set to return to racing a fortnight ago, he had not lost any fitness.
“We trained him to compensate for missing that race. He’s where we want him to be. He’s an exciting horse,” Waterhouse said.
Alligator Blood will take on a star-studded field in the Memsie Stakes that includes the Mick Price and Michael Kent jnr-trained pair of I’m Thunderstruck and Illation, last year’s winner Tofane, and the Australian Cup winner Duais.
Alligator Blood joined the Waterhouse and Adrian Bott stable at the start of this year with a big query over his form, but it took only two runs for them for him to win the group 1 Stradbroke Handicap at Eagle Farm at his last run in June.
The former top galloper had captured the attention of racing fans as a three-year-old when he was trained by David Vandyke as he won nine of his first 11 starts and finished second in the 2019 Caulfield Guineas. His last win was in the 2020 Australian Guineas before he failed in the 2020 All-Star Mile.
He had three starts in the spring as a four-year-old with Vandyke for a second and a third before failing in the 2020 Golden Eagle.
He then had back surgery before joining Billy Healey’s stable for three runs in 2021, with his best effort a fourth. Endresz then sent Alligator Blood to Waterhouse and Bott earlier this year and they managed to weave their magic on him.
Waterhouse said the key to the six-year-old gelding’s rejuvenation was to teach him to relax. “He was living on his nerves when he came to us. We got him to relax and once he did, he improved out of all knowledge,” she said.
Waterhouse said she wasn’t surprised by Alligator Blood’s win in the Stradbroke Handicap nor the style of it, where he came from mid-field to win.
“I wasn’t surprised. He had been training very well and he was very receptive to the way we were training him,” she said.
Waterhouse said Alligator Blood had been in Melbourne for a couple of weeks and had settled in well. “I was down with him this week. He went to the Valley the week before, Damien [Oliver] was very impressed with him and spoke quite glowingly of his work. He’s very forward.”
Alligator Blood gave Waterhouse her 150th group 1 win with victory in the Stradbroke Handicap and she sits third on the all-time list of trainers behind Bart Cummings and her father Tommy Smith.
She has turned to the jockey who has won the most group 1 races in Australian racing history, Oliver (123 wins), to ride him.
Alligator Blood has drawn barrier one and Waterhouse said they would discuss tactics with Oliver closer to the race.
I’m Thunderstruck will be among the rivals for Alligator Blood on Saturday. Credit:Getty Images
Waterhouse will also be watching the stable’s Melbourne Cup fancy, Hoo Ya Mal, run in England in the group 3 March Stakes (2800 metres) at Goodwood on Sunday morning.
The English Derby runner-up was purchased by the stable for $2 million at the Goffs Sale in June.
Waterhouse said Hoo Ya Mal would then run in the English St Leger before coming out to Australia for the Melbourne Cup.
