Jigsaw Storms To Sixth Straight Win In William Reid Stakes G1

Jigsaw produced a gate-to-wire masterpiece in the $1 million Ladbrokes William Reid Stakes at Caulfield on Saturday, extending his winning sequence to six and handing Cranbourne trainer Cindy Alderson the first Australian Group 1 of her 36-year career.

Ridden by apprentice Logan Bates, the rising eight-year-old settled into the lead and fought off a fierce late surge from Angel Capital and Devil Night to score at $5.50 in the 1200-metre sprint. It was the 16th victory of Jigsaw's rejuvenated career, pushing his lifetime earnings to almost $2.9 million. Beau Mertens on Devil Night and Jye McNeil on Angel Capital mounted the most serious challenges in the straight, but neither could peg back a horse running out of his skin on a seven-day back-up. Charmstone finished fourth under Thomas Stockdale, with Baraqiel (Ben Allen) fifth and Rey Magnerio (William Pike) sixth.

The performance came just weeks after Jigsaw claimed his first Group 1 in New Zealand's Railway Stakes over the same 1200 metres in February, and Alderson said she sees no sign of the streak slowing.

"It's getting more and more unbelievable as we go along," Alderson said after being swamped by well-wishers. "I keep thinking it's going to stop sooner or later. He's not giving me any indications it's going to stop. He's just run exactly the same time as he ran last week. It's amazing for a small stable like ours to have the opportunity to have a horse like this at this stage of my career."

Alderson, the daughter of Caulfield Cup-winning horseman Colin Alderson, has trained since 1990 and spent a decade in partnership with her father, who was central to the development of the Cranbourne Training Complex.

Bates, who combined with Alderson for Group 1 glory in New Zealand earlier in the preparation, was emotional at the post-race scale. "It means everything. It's quite unbelievable. I thought about it during the week and this horse has just left me speechless today," he said. "Just to the fact of going back and looking at his whole preparation and just watching him grow. It's so special."

The race's beaten riders acknowledged the winner's superiority while flagging their own mounts' merits. Stockdale, who pressed Jigsaw throughout the turn aboard Charmstone, offered the most generous assessment: "Felt like the winner at the top of the straight but he just had race fitness on me. Great for Logan, he deserves it, the fella."

McNeil said Angel Capital's closing splits were actually the fastest of any horse in the race. "It got a bit tight rounding the turn and he lost his running a little bit but his last 400 was better than anything in the race so he's going really well."

The meeting's most talked-about absentee from the finish positions was Jimmysstar, the race favourite, who lugged in throughout from barrier one and never threatened. Jockey Zahra said the horse "was never in the zone today," citing the inside draw and the going. A post-race veterinary inspection found no abnormalities.

Six wins in a row, a first Australian Group 1, and a career now worth nearly $2.9 million: Jigsaw is giving his small Cranbourne stable a story that keeps growing bigger each Saturday.