Alligator snapping for return but doesn’t want a swamp

Headline horse Alligator Blood is ready and raring to resume on Saturday as trainer Billy Healey plays a weather waiting game before confirming all systems go for the Group 3 George Moore Stakes.

Rains has swamped southeast Queensland this week and there is no chance the Group 1 winner would race on Saturday if the Doomben track doesn’t improve from a Heavy 10 into at least the soft range.

Doomben is currently waterlogged but there is a good chance of decent improvement given there is only 2mm of rain forecast on Thursday and none on Friday and Saturday.

Both Friday and Saturday should be good drying conditions with 30 degree temperatures tipped in Brisbane on both days.

Healey is keen to deploy Alligator Blood in the $200,000 George Moore off the back of an impressive recent trial win at Doomben where the elite galloper wore blinkers for the first time.

However, whether Alligator Blood races on Saturday will be determined by track conditions, with Healey to leave it until Friday afternoon before assessing conditions and consulting the ownership group.

“We will wait and see what the weather does and we will make a decision on Friday,” Healey confirmed.

“He would run on soft ground but I wouldn’t be keen to run him on a heavy.

“Hopefully it does fine up, at least by Thursday, and there will be some hot days to try it out a bit.

“The Plan B, if he doesn’t race on Saturday, would be to trial next week and then run in a 1400m race two weeks from Saturday.

“Fingers crossed he does run Saturday, he is ready to go.”

In his three-year-old season, Alligator Blood was one of the stars of Australian racing and produced a dominant win in the Group 1 Australian Guineas at Flemington.

He hasn’t won in five races since and has had back surgery as well as a trainer change from David Vandyke to fellow Sunshine Coast-based trainer Healey.

Alligator Blood finished a fair fourth in the Listed Goldmarket on the Gold Coast in August before a potential spring campaign was aborted and he was sent back to the paddock before returning to eye off his Gold Coast Magic Millions goal.

Alligator Blood was famously disqualified from the Magic Millions 3YO Guineas, so it would be a redemption of sorts if he was to claim the $1m Magic Millions Cup (1400m) in January.

But first things first, blinkers went on for the first time in a recent 1000m Doomben trial win where Alligator Blood clocked 57.70 seconds for the 1000m and ran down Sugar Boom in the quickest trial of the morning.

Healey liked what he saw in the trial and the five-year-old son of All Too Hard will wear blinkers on Saturday if he lines up against the slick speedsters in the 1200m of the George Moore.

“He is a lot more casual than he ever was in his early days, he used to get a bit keen,” Healey said.

“He has settled right down as an older horse.

“It was just something I was keen to try, at this stage it looks like he goes better in the blinkers.

“And I don’t know an All Too Hard that doesn’t go well in blinkers or winkers.

“Whether the blinkers stay on for a whole preparation, I’m not sure just yet.

“But if he’s running in a 1200m race against horses like Zoustyle that are fast, sharp horses he probably just needs that little bit extra up his sleeve and the blinkers will help that.”

Alligator Blood has drawn barrier 10 of 12 in the George Moore and James Orman has been booked to ride.