This Alligator could deliver Gerry Harvey’s racing dream
Gerry Harvey has never won a Cox Plate, the race known for bringing together the best-of-the-best of Australian horse racing. But on Saturday, a horse with a reptilian name and the heart of a tiger could change that.
Alligator Blood, a seven-year-old gelding in which Harvey bought a majority stake last year, is second favourite for the race after winning his last two starts. Trained by the legendary Gai Waterhouse, the horse has now won seven group one races (the top grade of Australian racing) and $7.5 million in prizemoney.
Alligator Blood at Altona Beach earlier this month. Getty
“Gai’s got him right up there amongst the tough old warriors that she’s trained over the years,” Harvey says.
But to win the Cox Plate will require the horse to go to another level, and Harvey isn’t getting ahead of himself.
“Just to get into a Cox Plate, or an Everest or a Golden Slipper, is a feat on its own. It’s so hard,” he tells AFR Weekend.
“The fact that he’s there, the fact that he’s won seven group one races, the fact that he’s got a good name – if things go right, he can win it.”
Harvey is one of Australia’s biggest thoroughbred breeders and owns the Magic Millions horse auction business. He expects Magic Millions will be challenged by the looming economic slowdown, although a sale held this week on the Gold Coast enjoyed a surprisingly strong clearance rate, thanks to interest from Asian buyers.
Gerry Harvey has invested heavily in his passion for horse racing and breeding.
That’s given Harvey a bit of hope ahead of January’s main Gold Coast sale, but he worries it will become harder to find local buyers for less expensive horses as cost-of-living pressures bite.
“I think that at the top end, we will still be very strong. In
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