How good was Alligator Blood in the Stradbroke Handicap!
The son of All Too Hard, who has seldom been far from the headlines since he kicked off his career with a five-race winning streak, stunned his opposition into submission with a blistering finishing effort which, with the exception of Private Eye’s late charge, nobody was able to counter in any way at all.
It would be fair to say that not everybody was on Alligator Blood’s side going into the race, but the controversies which are so often brought up in the same breath as Alligator Blood’s name, and which had led to arguably a significant fallout of support for the one-time boom runner, had little to do with the horse himself.
To put it simply, there were those who were seemingly not well disposed towards Alligator Blood’s future ambitions because of the turbulence associated with his background. Then there were those who, on a practical but not emotional level, held genuine and justifiable doubts after whether Alligator Blood would ever come back to his best after such delicate back surgery … and then there was arguably the minority … those who believed that Alligator Blood would be back against the odds.
Co-owner Jeff Simpson was one such believer … yet, when that moment of euphoric bewilderment arrived for him as Alligator Blood passed the winning post with Tim Clark signalling a famous win with a fist-pump in the saddle, Simpson’s first words reflected a natural human response.
“I can’t believe it,” said Simpson … before the emotions welled up and he was momentarily left spent and speechless. And, yes, there were tears.
It had been a long road with many twists and turns, at times having to deal with some unpleasantness and outright obstacles as well as various challenges, but the journey bringing Alligator Blood back to his best was now complete.
“I was always quite confident, but I was concerned about where we would end up from the barrier,” said Simpson. “We were lucky we had the likes of Ayrton and Rothfire near us which we thought would drag us into the race, which they did for a time. Tim (Clark) did as good a job as he could in those circumstances, and he ended up travelling pretty well where he was.
“At the 300m, I was thinking, we are going to be right in this, but I didn’t think he would be that good,” was Simpson’s honest assessment.
“He had that old sprint that he used to have at the 200m as a three-year-old, so think we have got the old Al back!
“He ate up on Saturday night and there were no apparent injury concerns after the run.
“He has, in fact, been injury-free and physically pain-free for some time now, but the pain he endured in his back before his operation never left him immediately after the operation as far as his mind was concerned.
“He still had to work his way through that.
“If you look at the replay of his first-up run in the BRC Sprint, he gets to the 300m and he turns his head a little bit … and I think that was the point where he either went backwards or he went through it … and when he went through it and found he didn’t have any pain, then he knew he was back. Just like he knew what he could do in the Stradbroke on Saturday.
“Gai (Waterhouse) and Adrian (Bott) are doing a great job with him … and so too the work done that is being done by Billy Healey as well … but really, if you go back, it is all thanks to the staff at the Gatton University Vet Hospital. It was a very delicate operation that Al had to undergo. All credit to them.
“After the operation we had to take him steady. We sent him to Billy’s for rehabilitation and a couple of runs to help get his confidence back. It was slow and gentle … and we were happy with that. Then he went to Gai and Adrian for the next step.
“Now we are even happier to have got that job done.
“It was the absolute racing highlight for my wife Robyn and myself, … and let’s hope it is onwards and upwards from now on,” concluded Simpson.”
