Alligator Blood (right) wins the Champions Mile (Image: Racing Photos)
Connections of star galloper Alligator Blood have laid out an autumn plan which culminates in the $5m All-Star Mile in March.
Alligator Blood topped the voting in the 2020 edition of the fan-voted race, and co-owner Jeff Simpson expects the four-time Group 1 winner to excel at next year’s feature to be run at Moonee Valley.
“Moonee Valley will be nice for him, he gets around it well,” Simpson said.
“In terms of where he’ll kick off, we’re not exactly sure yet, it’ll be either the CF Orr Stakes (1400m) or the Futurity (Stakes, 1400m), then the All-Star Mile.
“We want him to be second-up, he goes really good second-up. We’ll see what happens because things can change from time to time.”
Alligator Blood’s spring campaign ended with a terrific win in the Champions Mile on the final day of the Melbourne Cup Carnival, and the Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott-trained galloper has returned to work in Melbourne ahead of his autumn preparation.
“He went back to Sydney and up to a spelling place that’s fairly popular with Group horses and they looked after him, he did a really good job, plenty of time on the water walker,” Simpson said.
“He’s now back in Melbourne already, he likes it down there. They look after him and do a great job with him. He’s really good, he’s come through his campaign terrifically and he is raring to go, he’s put some weight on.
“We’re happy with where he’s at and we think he’ll be quite competitive over the mile at Moonee Valley.”
Alligator Blood has opened as the $8 equal second favourite to win the All-Star Mile, sitting on the second line of betting with Anamoe and Zaaki.