THE LIFE AND TIMES OF ALLIGATOR BLOOD - THE VIEW FROM AN OWNER'S PERSPECTIVE - PART 3

By Jeff Simpson with Graham Potter | Thursday, December 12, 2019

Jeff Simpson is one of the three owners of Alligator Blood. Here, in Part 3 of ‘The Life And Times Of Alligator Blood,’ Jeff continues giving the back story of racing’s emerging star picking up the story with Alligator Blood’s return to the stable following a well-deserved break in the paddock following his oh-so-close effort in the Group 1, Caulfield Guineas. As Alligator Blood moves towards the much anticipated, next chapter in his career, this is an update of the current mood, planning and possibilities with regard to Alligator Blood’s future … as experienced by Jeff Simpson.

Alligator Blood (Al) pulled up really well after the Caulfield Guineas. We put him out in the paddock for a couple of weeks and gave him a good freshen up.

We haven’t had any problems with him at all. He is coming along really well. We were happy with his trial the other day. We are going to the Gold Edition this Saturday. Then, if he comes through that and the weather is fine and the track is fine and he pulls up alright, we’ll go to the Vo Rogue.

Then the Magic Millions … that’s his main mission.

After that we’ll give him a couple of weeks off again … maybe two or three. Then we are thinking about going back to Melbourne to the C S Hayes ... the Australian Guineas maybe. And the All-Star Mile. You got to have a plan on the table but you also know in reality you can only take it one race at a time.

Going what Ryan Maloney has said, Al has gone to another level since in came back in. Hopefully we can trust those comments which will bode well for the future.

Al is clearly doing everything right. He feels good. He seems to have settled down a bit … matured a bit. He is not as silly as he was when going to the pool and things like that. He has settled down really good there.

The main mission after the Magic Millions will be the All-Star Mile but we will need votes for that.

Then we will give him a long break and probably go to Sydney in the Spring. We are not going to the Brisbane Winter Carnival.

We’ll just have to see how we go, but geez we have had some offers … some were virtually saying we could write our own cheque … at any price.

Are we ever tempted?

Look we got him really cheap. He is already giving us a good return and the way he is going it is not unreasonable to think, that if we can keep him sound, that he could win five or six million in his career with the races that he will be targeting.

There are no guarantees in racing and I’m not even claiming he will do that, but I am saying that scenario is a very real possibility.

We are all in the game to get a decent horse and now that we have got one, we have no plans whatsoever to part with him.

If he were a colt, and with the stud value they put on top colts … well, that would be a different matter. But, then again, Al probably would not be where he is in his racing career if he was still a colt.

So that’s where we stand now. Feature race after feature race to look forward to.

Nobody knows how things will actually unfold but I am very happy with our position.