All Too Hard climaxed a very successful 2019 when his top-class sprinter-miler Alligator Blood won the Vo Rogue Plate Gr.3 at Eagle Farm on Saturday.

It was the Vinery sire’s third black-type victory in three days and it came almost a year to the day since Alligator Blood won his maiden with a whirlwind finish on the Sunshine Coast.  “He just blew them away,” trainer David Vandyke said after that eye-catching debut.  “He’s an All Too Hard and has a lot of upside as they get better with age.”

Vandyke was right on the mark with that prediction as Alligator Blood kept improving and winning this year until a heart-breaking short half-head loss in the Caulfield Guineas Gr.1 on October 12.

Given a short-break before a summer campaign, he has come back better than ever winning the Gold Edition Plate LR and Vo Rogue Plate Gr.3 at Eagle Farm this month leading into the $2 million Magic Millions Guineas RL at the Gold Coast on January 11.

“I thought he’d improved again and it was a pretty painless up the straight,” Vandyke said after the commanding two-length victory.  “He’s adaptable.  He can sit off them and take cover or put himself up there.  He’s the complete racehorse and will be peaking for the Magic Millions Guineas.”

Alligator Blood (3g All Too Hard – Lake Superior by Encosta De Lago) was bred and sold by Baramul Stud owner Gerry Harvey for $55,000 at the 2018 Gold Coast Magic Millions.  He has now won 7 times in 8 starts earning $939,000 in prizemoney for owner Allan Endresz of Ezybonds No 1 syndicate.

All Too Hard has sired the winners of 9 black-type races this season.  All Too Royal kicked-off a holiday hat-trick in the Christmas Stakes LR at Caulfield on Thursday, winning by almost a length for trainers Ciaron Maher and David Eustace. He’s a royally bred gelding from the Group 1 winning Bel Esprit mare Bel Mer. Like his mother, he races in the famous green and white Vinery silks.

The second winner in the string of Stakes success came from South African filly Roy’s Riviera. Also bred by Gerry Harvey’s Baramul Stud, Roy’s Riviera (Donna Amata by Anabaa) took out the Flamboyant Stakes Gr.3 at Greyville by over a length.

Alligator Blood gave jockey Ryan Maloney an armchair ride when he arrived as a short-priced $1.35 favourite on Saturday.  “We haven’t got to the bottom of him yet.  He’s in a different class to these horses,” Maloney claimed.  “He switched off nicely and I had to give him a reminder in the straight because he was doing it so easily.

“That will top him off beautifully for the Magic Millions.”