Blood, sweat and tears: Gator’s against the odds rise
From sale scrap heap and debilitating injury to Group 1 glory, Ben Dorries traces the extraordinary journey of Cox Plate fancy Alligator Blood.
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Cox Plate hero horse Alligator Blood was not only sold for a song, but his extraordinary journey towards racing immortality started with a song.
Frank Sinatra’s 1964 tune Fly Me To The Moon was closely associated with the Apollo missions to the moon and it is also Allan Endresz’s favourite song.
At the 2018 Gold Coast Magic Millions Sales, colourful businessman Endresz and his uncle Jeff Simpson had their eyes on a young horse by Better Than Ready.
• Gai’s text message to Gerry Harvey ranks Alligator Blood with greats
But it was a singalong with Alligator Blood (All Too Hard-Lake Superior), who had been passed in and was standing in the box next door, that was the first step in one of racing’s most amazing tales.
News Corp senior writer Ben Dorries traces the inside story of seven-time Group 1 winner Alligator Blood, talking to many of those who have been key players at each step of the journey.
Alligator Blood is a poker phrase which refers to a player who is tenacious and resilient in the toughest of fights and that has been on show from day dot.
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ALLAN ENDRESZ
Alligator Blood’s original owner Endresz knew the horse was hardly the perfect specimen when he and Simpson first spotted him.
“He didn’t look correct, he had some issues and a curved hock,” Endresz said.
“But he had an attitude about him.
“I sang Fly Me To The Moon to the horse and he embraced it, from then I knew we had to have him.
“We had to barter with (Magic Millions supremo) Gerry Harvey; I offered him $50,000 with GST but he told me to piss off at that price.
“So then we settled on $55,000 with GST.”
Alligator Blood was sent to Sunshine Coast trainer David Vandyke and the high hopes of the ownership team began to fade when initial reports were that he was “hopeless” at track work.
But just after Christmas in 2018, a switch was flicked.
Alligator Blood, backed from $7.50 into $3.70 to win his Sunshine Coast debut, came from an impossible position when he was so far from them he couldn’t even see them with binoculars.
He nailed an incredible last stride win.
“I had $5000 each way at $8 that day, when he was 10 lengths off them even late in the race I thought ‘Well that’s taught me a lesson and I need to ring the (gambling) helpline’,” Endresz said.
“I was standing right on the finish line and as he wound up late, I thought at least I might get my money back on the place bet.
“Stuff me dead, he got up and won.”
Alligator Blood produced a barnstorming finish to win on debut at the Sunshine Coast on 30.12.2018 pic.twitter.com/n3khyH8D96
— Nick Quinn (@Quinny_1) February 28, 2020
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RYAN MALONEY
Super Seth famously knocked off Alligator Blood in the last stride of a thrilling finale to the Caulfield Guineas in 2019.
But Alligator Blood’s jockey that day, Ryan Maloney, maintains it should have been a different result.
“Still, to this day, I am sure that if Super Seth had been right up alongside us, Alligator Blood would have kicked and won,” Maloney says.
“But Super Seth was so wide out on the track that Alligator Blood simply didn’t see him coming.
“I had a bad feeling when we crossed the line.
“I was watching the pony and the camera car and when I saw both of them heading towards Mark Zahra (Super Seth’s jockey) I thought ‘f*** it’.”
When Super Seth came from the clouds to win the 2019 Caulfield Guineas… 🚀🚀@FreedmanRacingpic.twitter.com/zVWSK2YiTD
— 7HorseRacing 🎠(@7horseracing) October 7, 2022
Alligator Blood returned in the summer to score the $2m Gold Coast Magic Millions 3YO Guineas, later disqualified after traces of altrenogest were found in his system.
The court battle continues over the controversy.
Alligator Blood had a major moment when scoring his first Group 1 in the 2020 Australian Guineas which also handed Maloney his first Group 1.
“From the 600m that day, he came back underneath me, and I knew he wasn’t going to get beaten – the feel he gave me was incredible,” Maloney said.
“That race was hyped up as a match race between Alligator Blood and Catalyst.
“But I knew we were always probably going to have Catalyst’s measure as that horse had Alligator Blood beaten so many times in the straight in the CS Hayes, yet Alligator Blood still found a way to win.”
ALLIGATOR BLOOD WINS THE AUSTRALIAN GUINEAS. pic.twitter.com/eisviHpEW1
— 7HorseRacing 🎠(@7horseracing) February 29, 2020
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DR BEN AHERN
Alligator Blood was at a crossroads in late 2020 after a below par performance when finishing a lowly 15th in the rich Golden Eagle won by Godolphin mare Colette.
It started a train of events where he was diagnosed with a condition called ‘kissing spine’ – enter Queensland vet Dr Ben Ahern who went to work at the University of Queensland Equine Specialist Hospital.
An incredible 90-minute surgical procedure helped transform the gelding into the superstar we see today.
“It really was all credit to owners and the trainers along the way for following medical recommendations,” Dr Ahern said.
“The surgery made the space bigger between Alligator Blood’s bones – before that it had been restricting his ability to flex and to extend which was a major problem for galloping.
“He really was an amazing animal to work with.
“It’s a thrill for me these days to see him charging down the straight and collecting the biscuits.
“It’s an honour to have been a small part of his journey.”
Congratulations to Dr Ben Ahern and all those involved in Alligator Blood’s remarkable resurgence in elite racing. A dedicated team who never lost faith and made the impossible possible. The Gator is a happy, healthy horse, who just loves the crowd, his Blood supporters and, most…
— Allan Endresz (@EndreszAllan) March 16, 2023
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JEFF SIMPSON
Alligator Blood now wins Group 1s for fun, but part-owner Simpson says the 2022 Stradbroke Handicap triumph was the most special.
Returning from the wilderness and having just his second run for new trainers Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott, the ‘Gator demolished a high-class field to show he was back with a bang.
What an outstanding achievement!
— 7HorseRacing 🎠(@7horseracing) June 11, 2022
Alligator Blood wins the Stradbroke to secure @GaiWaterhouse1's 150th Group 1 win 🆠pic.twitter.com/iUHNK2Pooi
It was also a highly emotional moment as Allan Endresz’s wife Joy was desperately ill and passed away the next day.
“With the condition that Joy was in at the time, we didn’t even know if she would still be around for the race,” Simpson said.
“But Allan cradled her in his arms.
“With all of that emotion, and with Alligator Blood performing the way he did in that race after getting him back from surgery, it was very special.
“He is just the horse of a lifetime. He is the horse everyone dreams of when you buy a horse.
“The main grief that Allan has given me along the journey is we had to change the horse’s colours.”
Alligator Blood now races in Gerry Harvey’s blue and white colours after Endresz relinquished his ownership due to his status as an undisclosed bankrupt and the threat of a racing ban hanging over the star horse.
Nothing beats that winning feeling! Part owner Jeff Simpson leads the Alligator Blood celebrations in the centre.
— Magic Millions (@mmsnippets) June 11, 2022
Stradbroke Handicap glory! #PureMagicpic.twitter.com/1H1NCdbJUR
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GAI WATERHOUSE
When racing’s first lady Waterhouse and co-trainer Bott first laid eyes on Alligator Blood, he was an immature horse who had won one Group 1.
Now he is an imposing steamroller who had added another six Group 1s in a mesmerising transformation.
Waterhouse says she holds Alligator Blood in the same esteem as former Group 1 greats she has trained like Grand Armee and Juggler. She explains why.
“He reminds me a lot of Juggler who had similar features and both have an amazing ability to roll up the sleeves and punch, punch, punch,” Waterhouse said.
“Grand Armee was similar, with a huge will to win. No-one thought Grand Armee would turn into the horse he did.
“Alligator Blood is big and he is strong and has got amazing determination to win and that’s hard to find.
“A lot of racehorses are big and strong, but you’ve got to have fire in your gut if you are a person or a horse.”
So how did the noted Waterhouse “bone and muscle” training method – inherited from her famous father TJ Smith, work for Alligator Blood?
“When we first got Alligator Blood he was a much smaller horse, he didn’t have the muscle tone or the size,” Waterhouse said.
“I said to Adrian that he was quite an immature horse and we needed to get that out of him.
“The horse also needed to just relax and chill out and enjoy life.
“You have got to be very observant with horses. You have got to keep tapping away, especially when you get horses from somewhere else.
“It was also about getting him into a new routine that he had never been in.
“If horses are nervous, they are creatures of flight and they are not going to give you their best.
“They can climb mountains if they are confident in their environment and that is what Alligator Blood has done.”
After Alligator Blood won the Group 1 Might And Power Stakes, Waterhouse sent a text message to managing owner Gerry Harvey which read:
“Evening Gerry. I couldn’t let the day finish without saying the biggest thanks for entrusting Alligator to us to train.
“He ranks with my great horses, so professional and makes his rivals look ordinary.”
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GERRY HARVEY
Alligator Blood was only allowed to continue racing after billionaire businessman Harvey purchased a significant share of the headline horse off Endresz.
Harvey has seen a lot of things in his time and not much surprises him.
But even he has been blown away by Alligator Blood’s giant-killing Group 1 run.
He said it proves you don’t need to buy a million-dollar yearling to get your hands on an equine champion.
“I’ve been in this business since 1972 when I first started buying and breeding horses,” Harvey said.
“Alligator Blood is up there with anything I have seen, now that he has seven Group 1s.
“Breeding is a funny thing because Alligator Blood was passed in initially.
“It‘s a bit like The Everest, the winner (Think About It) was passed in for $100,000 because he was a big gangly horse that no-one wanted.
“(Syndicator) Jamie Walter said he would take him at $70,000.
“The second Everest horse (I Wish I Win) couldn't be put in a Sale because his legs were so crooked.
“The third horse (Private Eye) was by Al Maher who was a failed stallion.
“So, if you want to breed an Everest winner, if you look at all that information, you say it's pure arse.
“It's the same with Alligator Blood – no-one could have seen it coming.”
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TIM CLARK
The big-time Sydney jockey has won four Group 1s on the ‘Gator and will partner him as one of the leading Cox Plate fancies.
Clark senses sports fans have not only gravitated to Alligator Blood's fighting spirit on the track, but also his entire story which has had more twists and turns than an Agatha Christie novel.
“It's great that he's got such a following, he has got a catchy name and he has had plenty of chapters to his career,” Clark said.
“People just have a lot of respect for this horse.
“He wears his heart on his sleeve and goes into the Cox Plate in arguably the best form of his career.
“He gets pretty fresh in the mornings, he is like a two-year-old and he jumps around so you have got to keep on your toes around him because he will catch you out.
“He is not an outstanding track worker by any means.
“But he is so tough when it comes to race day.
“He goes to war for you.
“Not many horses can achieve what he has and he continues to surprise everyone.”
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