Jigsaw’s $5m fairytale: Alderson’s wild ride rolls on

What a wild few months it has been for Victorian trainer Cindy Alderson and her warrior Jigsaw.

After the duo pickied up their first Group 1 in New Zealand in January with the Railway Stakes, the duo backed it up to win the $1 million William Reid Stakes in March.

Incredibly, the humble Mornington based trainer topped it off with a brave front-running win in the $5 million The Quokka in Western Australia on Saturday.

‘’Seven in a row, seven years old … there was some kind of synergy to it, so it's just been amazing trip,’’ Alderson told 7 Racing post race.

‘’I can't thank everybody here enough for looking after me. [Trainer] Simon Miller's been incredibly generous.

‘’We sort of had a joke about Dean Lester and I being friends and me being in the … accessible room. I think Dean's with us, maybe it's a gear change, who knows? It's just fantastic. ‘’

Alderson said she found a quiet place to watch the race, with her 7-year-old starting a $3.70 favourite.

‘’Well, I always try and be on my own, and I picked a spot early doors right near the winning post,’’ she said.

‘’Because I worked out last time you couldn't see at the start.

‘’I just stood there. There was a whole lot of other people around me. I think they had other connections and I just stayed in the zone.

‘’And then at about the hundred, I started to cheer which is not normal for me. And then I thought, oh no, we're home, we're home. And then I saw Ray [Magnerio] flash late and what a great run by Ray.

‘’And you know that, that team's done an amazing job with that horse to bring him over here in the summer and come back again and having run as well as he has. It's a phenomenal job.’’

Alderson also paid tribute to Jigsaw’s jockey Logan Bates, who timed his ride to perfection.

‘’ I got … a little jittery because it's been such a long ride. And you know, the pressure's been mounting, you know, back at the call of the card, everyone was tipping him as just winning, which was right,’’ she said.

‘’ I tried really hard not to give him too hard a time. And he just said to me, "Same same." I said, "Yeah same same." And that's what happened.’’

And then result was the same, delivering Alderson another rich win for an incredible start to 2026.