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Cyndie’s Magic thriving in post-racing career

5 July 2021

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By Jordan Gerrans

Bill and Cyndie Elson say they have never seen anything like it before at their Churchable kennel.

The stalwarts of the greyhound industry in Queensland have bred dozens of litters of dogs over the decades, but what is occurring with champion greyhound Cyndie’s Magic’s final litter is something that is completely out of the ordinary.

Described as the darling of Queensland greyhound racing in her career that was headlined by her stunning racing style, Cyndie’s Magic would often get back to last in the run as she would rocket home to win on the line in scintillating fashion.

Now delivering as brood bitch, Cyndie’s Magic has added a unique quality to her career resume, now becoming a loving mother for her third and final litter.

As Cyndie Elson detailed, usually brood bitches will move on from their puppies after their litters, relocating to a different area of the kennel after they had been weaned.

The fan favourite of the Queensland greyhound public is completely different to others, Elson says.

“She is very protective of her last litter, come about 9pm every night she walks the floor in the house until I take her out to her puppies,” Cyndie Elson said.

“After that, she will sleep on the lounge room all day and then once the night time comes around again, she is back outside.

“I do not know if she thinks something is happening out there with her puppies, she is just very, very protective.

“She does have a little girl called Priscilla and maybe she is worried about her as she is smaller than the boys.

“She is a strong little pup Priscilla and she will be fine, she just wants to be there to protect them because the other pups on the side of the fence.”

Cyndie Elson explains that she would never usually leave the bitches with their children as she was mindful of them trampling on each other.

In her racing days, which wrapped up in March of 2018 following a 45-victory career, Bill Elson was her official trainer while Cyndie owned the star chaser.

In her first two litters, Cyndie’s Magic was like any other brood bitch, but Bill says she has changed her mentality and attitude with her last group.

“She is kind of close to them, really close to them, she has motherly instincts,” Bill said.

“It is unique, not many dogs are like that - it is her last litter.

“Not many of them get out of their kennel and go be with their pups, they are usually finished with them quickly.

“She wants to go back there at night-time and be with them.”

Around the Elson’s Churchable kennel, Cyndie’s Magic has the lay of the land.

She is a regular laying on the lounge room floor, which most of the other dogs do not get the privilege of doing.

Cyndie believes her retired champion greyhounds knows that she is a bit special, declaring she acts like she owns the place, thinking how good she is.

Cyndie’s Magic’s mother, Regal Silver - a multiple-Dam of the Year Award winner in Queensland - was cut from the same cloth.

“She made us and magnificent the way she produced,” Cyndie reflected on Regal Silver.

“Cyndie’s Magic is doing the same thing, I can see it in her pups, they are advancing through.”

With her third litter of pups coming through now, Cyndie’s Magic’s record as an excellent brood bitch is sure to only increase.

Cyndie's Magic

In her first litter back in 2018, she produced many of the top greyhounds racing in Queensland and won the Brisbane Greyhound Club Dam Of The Year Award at the 2020 GOTY Awards.

Her litters include quality dogs such as Limited Edition and Magical Hope, as well as other winners at Capalaba and other tracks, with most of her litters, Bill estimating around 10 dogs, going on to win races.

In Cyndie’s Magic’s racing career, some of her milestones included the 2017 Group 3 Queensland Cup, 2016 Rockhampton Cup, Winter Chase, Clem Jones Cup, Winged Runner Trophy, as well as being was placed in five Group races and a finalist in another five, before Cyndie’s Magic’s final career win in early 2018.

At the height of her career, Cyndie’s Magic was regarded as one the most popular greyhounds to come out of Queensland over the last decade, with her eye-catching racing style drawing in punters and fans around Australia.

In her heyday, people would come to the track just to see the famous back-marker fly home to roll her rivals in the final few bounds, with 35 of her 45 career triumphs coming at Albion Park.

“She would be get back to last on the turn into the straight and then she would win,” Bill said with Cyndie’s Magic sitting on his lap.

“She would win by just a nose, that is all, she would never win by much more than a length.

“That was just the way she galloped.”

She was a star on and off the track, Cyndie believes, dubbed the “Queen of the Creek” for all her special Albion Park victories.

“Once she learnt that track, she owned it,” Cyndie said.

“I often look at the replays and think “are you showing off? What are you doing?”

“She just made herself look magnificent.

“She only did what she had to and not any more more, she would get back and come through and win like a rocket.

“I watch her replays often and think they are all brilliant, they are wonderful.”

Bill knows he trained a once-in-a-lifetime chaser, describing her as the best dog he ever trained “by far”.

“She is a really special dog,” Bill said.

“She has done it on the track and off the track, as well.”

On top of her excellent racing career, feats as a broodbitch, the Elson’s also note that Cyndie Magic has a friendly nature as a dog and is as quiet as they come around their sizeable kennel, which consists of around 100 dogs just west of Brisbane.

And while she has been retired for over three years now, Cyndie’s Magic has not lost the chase in her and will regularly run out of the property at times and scare the Elson’s’.

The scene of one of Cyndie’s Magic’s greatest ever victories, the Queensland Cup, will be run at Group 1 level this Thursday night at Albion Park.