Alligator BloodĀ announced that he could be in for another Group 1-winning campaign with a slick Rosehill trial win on Friday.
The Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott-trained star was a dominant winner of the first of a star-studded set of trials, which saw a number of Australiaās best horses in action.
Alligator Blood, with Tim ClarkĀ aboard, cruised home 3-1/2 lengths clear of four-time Group 1 winner MontefiliaĀ in the 1000-metre trial in a performance that suggested to Bott that the seven-year-old was ready to fire first-up.
āThat was his second trial this campaign, I feel heās coming up really well,ā Bott said.
āThat was what we wanted to see from him this morning, give him a nice sound out so that heās ready to go first up for us.ā
Friday morningās trial followed a one-length win over Queen Of The Ball, who later in the morning defeated Nature StripĀ in a 900m trial, at Randwick on July 28.
The son of All Too Hard has taken his Group 1 tally to five under Waterhouse and Bott, including Group 1 victories in each of his past three campaigns.
Last spring he won the Underwood Stakes (1800m) and Champions Mile (1600m), having resumed in the Group 1 Memsie Stakes (1400m), but Bott said the make-up of his 2023 spring pathway was to be confirmed.
āWeāre just finalising his campaign and what they may be,ā Bott said of his spring starts.
āObviously there are plenty of targets here and, obviously, some in Melbourne that weāre going to look towards.
āBut heās ready to go off the back of that (trial) and I feel heās in for a great preparation wherever he pops up.ā
Alligator Blood is second favourite behind FangirlĀ for the first Group 1 of the season, the 1400m Winx Stakes at Randwick on August 19, and shares the first line of betting in the Memsie Stakes, which is at Caulfield on September 2.
A mighty impressive trial win from Alligator Blood, he left them standing! šš©ø
He's followed over the line by Montefilia and Sir Lucan. @GaiWaterhouse1 @clarkyhk pic.twitter.com/kJ1iWe3rSL
ā SKY Racing (@SkyRacingAU) August 10, 2023