Alligator Blood (+220) has become the fourth horse in the 21st century to claim the Underwood Stakes/Caulfield Stakes (Might And Power) double after taking out the Group 1 Might And Power, defeating Vow And Declare (+7000) by two lengths eased down.
The Gai Waterhouse & Adrian Bott-trained galloper recorded his seventh Group 1 success with the win in the Might And Power and he will now push onto the Cox Plate at Moonee Valley for his second attempt in as many years at the Weight For Age classic.
With Deny Knowledge (+3300) setting up an extremely fast tempo, Alligator Blood had to do bring the field up to the leader, but when Tim Clark went past the slowing leader, his mount still hadn't hit top gear.
However, when Clark went for his son of All Too Hard, he kicked clear by three lengths and continued to extend the leading margin until he was eventually eased down in the final 75m.
Vow And Declare and Duais (+300) ran on nicely from the back of the field and would have done their chances in a Caulfield Cup or Melbourne Cup no trouble at all with a second and third-place finish, respectively.
After another Group 1 win for Alligator Blood, Gai Waterhouse was delighted with the win, and she spoke post-race.
“He just did it so easily,” Waterhouse said.
“He's joyous. The horse in front (Deny Knowledge) made it a bit more of a tempo and Alligator just said ‘see ya later, alligator'.
“This is his fourth or fifth group one for us.
“He's so tough, he's so special.
“He's an elite racehorse and we're very privileged to see a horse like him.”
Tim Clark has been victorious in four Group 1's on Alligator Blood, and he spoke post-race.
“It's unreal,” Clark said.
“What he has done for me and my family over the last twelve or 18 months, he's been a wonderful horse and obviously disappointed I wasn't able to ride him up until now but I'm grateful to Gai and Adrian to give me the opportunity to get back on him.
“All the staff here and back home, they've prepped him up so well and these horses, they don't come along very often and a seven-time group one winner – five at weight-for-age, he's a real start and showed that he could run a strong 2000 (metres) today.”
Alligator Blood is now an +1000 chance in the Cox Plate futures market with online bookmakers.