Jigsaw bounces back to form with fine Railway triumph
Having failed to score in two-and-a-half years before rattling off a hat-trick last spring, born-again seven-year-old Jigsaw (Manhattan Rain) is now an elite-level winner.
The gelding – trained by Cranbourne’s Cindy Alderson and bred by her mother Lynne – raised his most important triumph among 13 career victories in Saturday’s Railway Stakes (Gr 1, 1200m) at Ellerslie.
His prior winning hat-trick had included Moonee Valley’s McEwen Stakes (Gr 2, 1200m) followed by Cranbourne’s $1 million slot race The Meteorite (1200m), but the NZ$700,000 Railway was easily the most impressive of his now four-race streak.
Jumping from barrier ten of 13 under Logan Bates, the Kiwi apprentice now based in Melbourne, Jigsaw speared across to sit outside leader and short priced favourite Alabama Lass (Alabama Express) as a solid pace ensued.
Jigsaw went to the lead at the 250 metres as Alabama Lass weakened, and Bates braced for challenges from behind.
But while another well fancied Australian – the Hayes brothers’ Arkansaw Kid (Harry Angel) – emerged to threaten to his inside, Jigsaw kept finding towards the line and scored by 0.8 lengths. Sweynesday (Sweynesse) was the same distance away in third for the Roger James and Robert Wellwood team.
After Jigsaw’s Meteorite success, Alderson said she couldn’t point to any reason for his resurgence other than “a lovely spell” and the fact he’d regained his confidence.
He looked the very picture of confidence as he staved off Arkansaw Kid on Saturday, in a win which shot his earnings well past the AU$2 million mark.
He also set emotions flying for Alderson – the daughter of famed Cranbourne conditioner Colin – as she celebrated her first Group 1, and for the young rider she has so richly supported since his move across the Tasman.
“It means everything,” said Bates, also revelling in his first elite-level triumph.
“I remember before I even started riding, Cindy and I had a conversation and she said one of her greatest achievements would be to see me win a Group 1 and the comment at the end was that it would be even better if it was in her colours for the Alderson family, and we have done it.”
Bates, 24, has formed a dynamic partnership with Jigsaw, having ridden him in all four wins of his current streak after initially partnering him for the first-up fourth at Caulfield which preceded it.
“What a beautiful horse,” he said. “You wouldn’t think he was a seven-year-old gelding to come back like this and get better and better. Every day I rode him going this way [right-handed] and all the work that we have done with him I just grew in confidence.
“The plan was either to lead if it was there or if they were rolling along at a tempo where he was happy in his rhythm. When I gave him a squeeze and he ranged up to Alabama Lass, he grew with confidence and gave me an unbelievable kick.
“There are so many people to thank. I have got Mum and Dad here, my partner, my good mate Jake, and to do it for Cindy is just unreal.
“It was like it was meant to be, to come back to where I grew up in New Zealand. Even his [Jigsaw] mother was from New Zealand. Coming here and racing on one of the best days here and taking out one of their bigger Group 1s in the Railway is just incredible.”
Six-time stakes winner Jigsaw is the third of four named foals for New Zealand-bred mare Demandz (Lonhro), a city winner on both sides of the Tasman, who was trained in Australia in partnership by Colin and Cindy Alderson.
Demandz’s second foal Queen Adele (Adelaide) was Listed placed, also for Cindy Alderson.
Cindy and mother Lynne now have Demandz’s yearling filly by Street Boss (Street Cry) who’s been named Labyrinth, and her filly foal by Cylinder (Exceed And Excel).
Jigsaw is among three stakes winners for Manhattan Rain this season, the other two being four-year-old gelding Sabaj, who took the Cranbourne Cup (Listed, 1600m), and the mare New York Lustre, who won the Begonia Belle Stakes (Gr 3, 1100m) at Flemington on Derby Day.
The 19-year-old Manhattan Rain now has 21 stakes winners from 458 runners at 4.6 per cent, including three elite-level victors in Golden Slipper (Gr 1, 1200m) queen She Will Reign, Australasian Oaks (Gr 1, 2000m) heroine Benagil, and South African star Whisky Baron.
Manhattan Rain most recently stood for $6,050 at Geisel Park, where he’s covered 177 mares in the past four seasons since moving to WA, according to latest studbook figures.