RACING'S BIG GUNS GETTING READY TO START LIMBERING UP FOR THE $5 MILLION ALL-STAR MILE

By Graham Potter | Tuesday, January 24, 2023

Two of the country’s current leading racehorses ... Zaaki and Alligator Blood ... will head towards a Grand Final clash in the $5 million All-Star Mile at Moonee Valley on March 18.

While a secured entry into the final field follows one of three routes ... prevailing in the popular public vote, saluting in a ‘win and you are in race’ and, lastly, by being selected by an All-Star wildcard panel ... given the high profile and popularity of Zaaki and Alligator Blood, there seems to be little doubt that both of these top class performers will take up the challenge on March 18.

The Annabel Neasham trained Zaaki is the defending All-Star Mile champion. A winner of fourteen starts, which, apart from the 2022 All-Star Mile, includes Group 1 wins in the McKinnon (twice), the Underwood and the Doomben Cup.

Zaaki also has a string of placed finishes in big feature races to his name ... most notably a third place result behind Anamoe in the Cox Plate in October ... all of which has helped contribute to his prize-money earnings total of $9.7 million.

Neasham has also entered four other runners for the All-Star Mile.

They are ... Mo'unga, who finished second behind Zaaki in the McKinnon in November ... but, you have to go back to August 2021 for Mounga’s last win, which was a Group 1 success in the Winx Stakes in which he beat Verry Elleegant ... the Group 2 Crystal Mile winner, My Oberon ... and also Law Of Indices and Sibaaq.

For his part, Alligator Blood will bring a formidable presence to the All-Star Mile scene.

Alligator Blood has been here once before ... when he finished tenth behind Regal Power in the 2020 All-Star Mile, but that run, which clearly was not representative of his true ability, has now been firmly confined to history.

Seldom has a horse’s name being embroiled in such on-going, off the track controversy surrounding his disqualification from the 2020 Magic Millions Guineas.

Seldom has a horse come through such a delicate surgery as the ‘kissing spine’ procedure that Alligator Blood underwent in late 2020 and, returned, after careful and loving rehabilitation, bigger and better than ever.

Since transferring to the Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott stable following his successful rehabilitation period, Alligator Blood has raced eight times for three Group 1 wins ... in the Stradbroke, the Underwood and the Cantala Stakes.

He also finished fifth in the Cox Plate, less than a length behind Zaaki.

There is still a way to go to get there ... a lot can happen in the weeks between now and the time when the final field will face the starter for the 2023 edition of the All-Star Mile ... but, with the likes of Zaaki and Alligator Blood getting ready to limber up, the intrigue with the voting and the anticipation, which will ultimately turn into excitement, will all be building over the coming weeks where contenders performances in lead up races will be watched with a particularly keen interest.

*Nominations for the All-Star Mile close on January 25. Late nominations close on January 30.

*Public voting opens on February 6. Voting closes February 26.

*Top ten vote getters announced March 1.

*Five ‘wildcards’ announced March 7. Two of those will be winners of the ‘win and you’re in’ races – the Group 1 Futurity Stakes on February 25, and the Group 2 Blamey Stakes on March 4.

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