Bookmakers are finding it difficult to separate the three main fancies for the $5 million Quokka at Ascot on Saturday with Jigsaw, Caballus and Rey Magnerio currently all eye-balling each other at a quote of $4.80 … and you can understand why that is.
The Cindy Alderson trained Jigsaw is on a quite brilliant run having landed an as yet unbroken sequence of six successive wins since striking at Cranbourne on October 10 last year.
That run includes a set of results that few can claim … quickfire Group 1 wins in both New Zealand and Australia within two months of each other … in the Sistema Railway at Ellerslie and in the William Reid at Caulfield, where Jigsaw had, amongst others, the likes of Jimmysstar (who finished a 1.42 length third behind Ka Ying Rising in The Everest), Angel Capital (who finished two lengths behind Ka Ying Rising in The Everest) and Charm Stone (the Manikato winner) all finishing behind him.
Logan Bates, who has been an integral part of Jigsaw rise to fame, obviously retains the ride.
Caballus and Tommy Berry are another pairing that stay together.
The duo have saluted in two out of their last three starts together and they finished second in the other outing with all of those results … including the runner-up finish … speaking volumes about just how well Caballus is travelling at this time.
The Bjorn Baker trained runner won the Group 3 George Moore in December. The son of I Am Invincible then stepped up to Group 2 company in the Expressway where he finished second, just over a length behind no less a force than Joliestar, who would go on to frank that form by winning the Coolmore Canterbury Stakes and the TJ Smith … two Group 1’s … in her next two starts.
Caballus then completed that positive progression from Group 3 to Group 2 to Group 1 in style by taking out the Newmarket at the elite level.
So, like Jigsaw, Caballus brings a very strong form-line into the Quokka.
Rey Magnerio, for his part, might not have quite as formidable a current presence as his two main rivals, but he does have a factor in his favour that the others do not have … namely he has travelled west before and handled both the conditions and the opposition.
So, he is two runs ahead of Jigsaw and Caballus in terms of racing experience at Ascot.
Those two runs … a third place finish behind Libertad in the Group 1 Winterbottom and a win in the $1.5 million Group 3 Gold Rush, when local star Cosmic Crusader and Overpass, a previous Quokka winner, filled the minor placings … have set up his credentials well enough here for him to deserve every respect in Saturday’s Grand Final.
Willie Pike was aboard Rey Magnerio in both of those starts at Ascot and he also travelled to Caulfield to ride the Robbie Griffiths trained runner in the William Reid (where he finished unplaced) in his lead-in run to the Quokka.
As mentioned, the bookmakers are struggling to separate the top three in the betting market.
Chances are their implied prediction that it could come down to a thrilling finish is likely to prove correct, but will it be as close as they are calling it.
Could a rare dead-heat even be in prospect?
