Gai Waterhouse, widely recognised as the First Lady of Australian racing, believes her champion galloper Alligator Blood will finally reward her with the big race that has eluded her – Saturday’s (28 October) G1 Cox Plate (2040m) at Moonee Valley.

Regarded as one of the greatest weight-for-age races on the global stage, Waterhouse’s legendary father, the late T.J. Smith, won the race a record seven times.

Waterhouse, who now trains in partnership with Adrian Bott, is confident the on-pace Alligator Blood will pick up his third consecutive Group 1 to add to the seven he has already collected.

There are plenty of challenges for the title in the star-studded 12-horse field headed by Hong Kong visitor Romantic Warrior, who goes into the race much better after his Australian debut when he finished fourth, beaten by nearly four lengths, in the G1 Turnbull Stakes (2000m) at Flemington on 7 October.

Waterhouse knows the opposition is elite, but she remains confident the AU$5 million (approx. HK$24.8 million) Cox Plate, which carries a first prize of AU$3 million (approx. HK$14.9 million), will add significantly to Alligator Blood’s cult following.

“He’s absolutely come of age, he’s so big – when you see him, his rump is like a dining room table,” she said at trackwork this week.

“He’s got terrific lung capacity as well; he’s just a wonderful horse.

“I’d love to win a Cox Plate. I’ve always adored this race, because it marries the things we do so well in Australia; speed, it’s got this electricity, this vitality… it’s just a fabulous race.”

While Romantic Warrior drew barrier seven, Waterhouse wasn’t fussed with barrier five for her horse.

Irish trainer Aidan O’Brien has the other international runner in the field with Victoria Road who won four races in succession last year, including a Group 3 over 1800m in France and then the G1 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf (1600m) in America. He has raced only once at 2000m, finishing a distant second last of eight runners in August.

Co-trainers Ciaron Maher and David Eustace are aiming Gold Trip on the same triple path to glory as they did last year when the gelding finished second in the G1 Caulfield Cup (2400m), ninth in the Cox Plate and first in the G1 Melbourne Cup (3200m). Gold Trip finished third in last week’s Caulfield Cup.

Maher said everything would have to go Gold Trip’s way on Saturday and he’ll need one uninterrupted run.

“But it wouldn’t be beyond him,” he said.

Maher and Eustace, who will race Gold Trip in blinkers on Saturday, also saddle-up King Colorado, who joins Chris Waller’s highly-fancied Militarize – already a three-time Group 1 winner – as the only three-year-olds in the race. They will both carry the minimum assigned weight of 109lbs.

The race will hold special significance for Hong Kong with several runners among the entries for the LONGINES Hong Kong International Races at Sha Tin on 10 December.

What race Mr Brightside will target in Hong Kong will become clearer after Saturday’s race with the gelding, which is trained by David Hayes’ sons Ben, Will and JD, yet to win beyond 1630m.

“One of his question marks, a lot of people were saying, is will he run 2000m? I think barrier two gives him every opportunity to do that, he should have a nice soft run,” Ben Hayes said.

Other Cox Plate horses in the entries for the Hong Kong meeting in December include Duais, Gold Trip, My Oberon and Zaaki. 

Waller predicts his star mare Fangirl to be “very hard to beat” if she can run out the 2040m.

A three-time Group 1 winner, the mare hasn’t raced beyond 1600m since her three-year-old season when she won the G1 Vinery Stud Stakes over 1850m.

Militarize is already a Group 1 winner over 1600m and Waller believes the 2040m won’t bother the colt.