Magic Millions race delayed by M1 truck rollover
Queensland’s best racehorse cruised to its eighth win in nine starts as it took out the Magic Millions Guineas, but the lead-up to the race was anything but troublefree.
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QUEENSLAND’S best racehorse was caught in scenes that rekindled a famous scene from the Phar Lap movie before sweeping the $2 million Magic Millions Guineas on the Gold Coast.
But what happened in the lead up to the race was anything but troublefree.
Alligator Blood’s float was stuck in the middle of the traffic chaos on the M1 when his trainer David Vandyke approached stewards and told them he was no hope of making it to the course inside the regulated time of two hours before he raced.
Had Alligator Blood been the lone horse caught in the traffic jam, it’s likely stewards would have ordered his withdrawal from the race.
But ‘luck’ was on Vandyke’s side, as there were five other horses that were also stuck.
A decision was taken to move all races back 40 minutes and perhaps taking a leaf out of the depiction of Phar Lap’s arrival to the 1930 Melbourne Cup in the 1983 movie, Gold Coast Turf Club officials called in a police escort for the stranded floats.
Vandyke’s worries didn’t end there. The extended float trip, which started from Caloundra, stirred up Alligator Blood and sapped some of his energy. The trainer noted he was not his usual self. More was to come when the race was held up for another 10 minutes owing to a horse being replated at the start and another bursting through the front of the stalls.
Owner Allan Endresz feared it was simply not meant to be.
“I was here and talking to my wife on the phone and she was saying keep calm. How do you do that,” Endresz said. “We didn’t know where he was for a while and at one point we thought he was in the crash.
“Once he was here there was all the dramas before the race and I thought this is just not going to happen.
“But he is a star and showed how good he is. But I don’t want to go through that again.”
With everything that unfolded, Vandyke rated it comfortably his greatest moment in racing when Alligator Blood was still able to stride away from his hapless rivals and post a comprehensive victory.
“He was held up, I didn’t know if he was going to get here on time, then the delays at the start, he was agitated, he was sweating, but good horses do it,” Vandyke said.
“I wanted to give him the opportunity to do what he does best. He’s just a deadset competitor and he’s done his state and his owners proud.
“It’s been a high pressure situation, he’s a Queensland competitor and it was just wonderful to see him step up at this top level and win such a prestigious race.
Yesterday’s race had been in Vandyke’s sights and those of jockey Ryan Maloney since Alligator Blood was a heart breaking second in October’s Caulfield Guineas.
The $2 million race was the biggest purse for both Maloney and Vandyke.
“He wasn’t meant to win the Caulfield Guineas, but gee whiz he was meant to win that race today,” Vandyke said.
“I want to thank my staff and Emma Lehmann, they have just been fantastic. Emma has worked tirelessly while I’ve been at the sales this week.
“I don’t want to start crying, but he’s got that X-factor and some. He just does what he does.”
Originally published as Magic Millions race delayed by M1 truck rollover