ALLIGATOR BLOOD GETTING READY FOR SUMMER ACTION

By Graham Potter | Sunday, November 21, 2021

It has been twenty-one months since Alligator Blood, at the time one of the stars of the turf, won the Group 1 Australian Guineas.

Alligator Blood had another four starts subsequent to that win for trainer David Vandyke, who had blazed a dominant trail with the son of All Too Hard but, after trailing home in the Golden Eagle on October 31, 2020 … the Alligator Blood good times came to an abrupt halt.

The diagnosis of a ‘kissing spine’ … a condition where bony projections at the top of the vertebrae (dorsal spinous processes) touch or overlap … necessitated that Alligator Blood undergo surgery.

That wasn’t the only thing that turned Alligator Blood’s future on its head.

Less than a month after the Golden Eagle run, after some reported tensions between owner and trainer, David Vandyke told the Alligator Blood ownership group that they needed to find another trainer as he was longer prepared to train for them.

After much deliberation and changing of plans … at one stage Alligator Blood was confirmed to be going to the Gai Waterhouse / Adrian Bott stable … it was decided that Alligator Blood would stay in training with the Billy Healey stable, with the ownership group being impressed by Healey, who had initially been given the job of looking after Alligator Blood on an interim basis as he slowly worked his way back after recuperating well from his operation.

Alligator Blood’s first run back, which came a full ten months after the Golden Eagle, came at the Gold Coast on August 27, 2021. That was in the featured Goldmarket where Alligator Blood finished fourth, 3.90 lengths behind the winner Desert Lord who, ironically, was trained by David Vandyke.

There was nothing wrong with the run, in theory. In fact it was a tough initiation as Alligator Blood did carry 61kg giving the winner a 7kg advantage at the weights, but it was also generally inconclusive as to exactly where Alligator Blood stood in his preparation.

As it was, it was decided to back off and give Alligator Blood more time … and we will know more about his progress should Alligator Blood accept for the Group 3 George Moore on December 4.

That is the current target, as confirmed by trainer Billy Healey.

“He had a good gallop on the course proper last Tuesday morning at home,” said Healey.

“He’ll have a trial on Tuesday at Doomben and then he will go to the George Moore on December 4 … and he’ll progress through the summer from there … from the 1200m to the 1400m, possibly to the 1400m again and then to the Magic Millions.

“Whether he has three runs into Magic Millions, or two runs and third up into it we’ll still decide.

“He is in really good order. He looks fantastic.

“We have been a bit harder on him this time around. I think we might have been a bit soft on him when he came back off such a long break. We just wanted to look after him coming back in, but we have been a lot harder on him this preparation.

“He is a lot fitter, so he’ll be a lot more ready to go in the George Moore. Hopefully Jimmy Orman will ride him there and he can then progress to The Cup.

“Just getting him back to that peak fitness is the big thing. He hasn’t been at peak fitness for a very long time. We are trying to get him back to that level.”

There will be no easy road back to success for Alligator Blood though with a high quality field expected to line up in the George Moore, including the Tony Gollan flyer Zoustyle, who produced a stunning comeback of his own on Saturday at the Sunshine Coast, when he returned after a fourteen month layoff, carried 58kg … and set a new 1000m track record when demolishing some very good performers.

Racing in the summer season in Queensland is clearly about to really warm up.

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