THE JURY IS STILL OUT ON ALLIGATOR BLOOD

By Graham Potter | Thursday, December 16, 2021

The jury is still out on just how much Alligator Blood can achieve in his comeback and more evidence will be submitted for consideration after the All Too Hard gelding’s run in the Listed Lough Neagh Stakes over 1400m at Eagle Farm on Saturday.

There was a time when Alligator Blood carried almost everything before him, winning his first five starts in a row and before going down by a nostril to Super Seth in the Group 1 Caulfield Guineas … after which he went on another winning streak culminating in a Group 1 victory in the Australian Guineas on February 29, 2020.

Controversy came into play through when Alligator Blood had one of those wins (in the Magic Million’s Three-Year-Old Guineas) taken away from him through disqualification after returning a positive swab to Altrenogest.

After that win in the Australian Guineas, Alligator Blood had three four more runs for trainer David Vandyke … with the best result there being a second place in the Silver Eagle … but it was a failed effort in the Golden Eagle on October 30, 2020 that brought an abrupt halt on two fronts to what had really been a glorious ride.

Firstly, Vandyke chose to end his association with the owners of Alligator Blood telling them to take their horses elsewhere … and secondly, Alligator Blood had to undergo surgery for a kissing spine.

Both of those outcomes represented a major upheaval in Alligator Blood’s career path.

While he was recovering from surgery, Alligator Blood’s owners announced the horse would go to the Gai Waterhouse / Adrian Bott stable on his return … but they changed their minds, instead leaving the horse with trainer Billy Healey who had been handing Alligator Blood in pre-training.

There was a touch of irony when Alligator Blood finally returned to race action a full ten months after his run in the Golden Eagle in the Listed Quality Goldmarket over 1200m at the Gold Coast on August 27, 2021, as that race was won by the David Vandyke trained Desert Lord with Alligator Blood finishing fourth, 3.90 lengths behind the winner.

It must be noted that Alligator Blood carried 7kg more than Desert Lord on that occasion. That puts the run of Alligator Blood in some perspective but, in essence, it was still difficult then to judge where Alligator Blood stood on his comeback trail.

Billy Healey chose to give Alligator Blood more time before testing the waters again and it was another three months before Alligator Blood reappeared in the Group 3 George Moore over 1200m two weeks ago at Doomben.

Again, in under sufferance at the weights and first-up over a distance short of his best, Alligator Blood was never expected to match the outright speed of the eventual winner Zoustyle, but the question of evaluating his 5.20 length defeat and the manner in which he performed again has an element of uncertainly to it.

Alligator Blood’s connections will tell you that Saturday’s run is just part of the process leading up to Alligator Blood’s grand final on Magic Millions day.

Absolutely, it is part of that game-plan but, at the same time, now with just two weeks between runs, you would think Alligator Blood would have to put in a performance good enough on Saturday to suggest that he is indeed building momentum if he is to get back into the good books of his one-time faithful supporters.

It would be great to see a good horse come back strong … and it would be a great feather in the cap of Billy Healey is Alligator Blood does just that but, if that sort of run is not forthcoming, it might not bode well moving forward.

In theory, it might just be a warm-up run on the way to the Magic Millions.

Some would say there is more on the line than that.

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