Gai Waterhouse described him as ‘special’ and Alligator Blood will get the chance to further endear himself to the Hall of Fame trainer after his win in Saturday’s Group 1 The Might And Power at Caulfield.

The gelding’s first win at 2000 metres, which came in dominant style, was all Waterhouse needed to see to confirm that the seven-year-old would press on to the $5 million Cox Plate at The Valley on October 28.

“He just did it so easily, he’s joyous,” Waterhouse, who trains in partnership with Adrian Bott, said.

“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.”

In a race run at a solid tempo due to tearaway tactics employed by Wiremu Pinn and Deny Knowledge, who enjoyed a 10-length lead in the middle stages, Alligator Blood pounced on the lead soon after straightening and quickly put the result beyond doubt.

Tim Clark eased the $3.40 chance down over the concluding stages, but he still had two lengths to spare over Vow And Declare ($71) at the line with Duais ($4) working home along the fence to finish one length further back third.

Alligator Blood – who has now won 15 of 33 starts and a tick under $7.5 million in stakes – became the 15th horse to complete the Underwood Stakes/The Might And Power double with his Group 1 tally now standing at seven.

This will be the second year he has contested the Cox Plate and Clark said the 2023 version is better-equipped than last year, when he finished a 2.1-length fifth behind Anamoe.

“I think that the fact he has had that prep over 2000, he’s had that hard seasoning in weight-for-age races against the ‘Anamoes’ and the like,” Clark said.

“I think that will hold him in better stead this year.”

While Waterhouse and Bott celebrated success with Alligator Blood, they also had the last horse over the line with Just Fine suffering his first defeat in Australia despite being backed into $3.10 favouritism with bookies.