
Alligator Blood has been rewarded for his stellar year, named as Queensland’s Racehorse of the Year for 2019-20.
The David Vandyke-trained galloper took out the Group 3 Caulfield Guineas Prelude, the Group 3 Vo Rogue Plate, the Group 3 CS Hayes Stakes, and the Group 1 Australian Guineas in a huge year of performances.
ALLIGATOR BLOOD WINS THE AUSTRALIAN GUINEAS. pic.twitter.com/eisviHpEW1
— 7HorseRacing 🐎 (@7horseracing) February 29, 2020
Vandyke was happy with the award for Alligator Blood, having previously claimed the honour with Yankee Rose in 2016-17.
“It’s a big honour,” Vandyke said.
“I remember sitting at the awards last year thinking it would be nice to win that again.
“He hadn’t won a serious race at that point. It’s been a fantastic season and it’s the icing on the cake getting that award.”
Vandyke said that Alligator Blood was tracking well for his target race, the $7.5 million Golden Eagle (1500m) on October 31.
“He’s going okay. Obviously we want him 100 per cent for his Grand Final. He got a pass mark in his first two runs this prep, but hopefully we can extract some improvement for the Golden Eagle,” he said.
“He found a bit when (Flit) went past him, but he wasn’t pulling Ryan into the race like we know he can. Hopefully now that he’s had those two runs back he will be a bit more switched on next start.”
Alligator Blood is currently the $5 favourite for the Golden Eagle.