Change of kennels lifts Pretty Cindy to new heights in Townsville

By Jordan Gerrans

Owner Jay Schafer has heaped praise on the training methods of leading North Queensland dog man Bradley Belford to turn around the fortunes of promising bitch Pretty Cindy.

Pretty Cindy claimed the feature Townsville Futurity crown for 2023 on Tuesday evening, scoring by a length and a half in 28.79 seconds.

The $7,980 Futurity decider is raced as an all-bitches event at the Townsville Showgrounds track.

Schafer prepares a team of seven dogs himself – and even had a winner on Tuesday evening in NQ – but opted to hand the training duties over to Belford with Pretty Cindy.

The white and black bitch did her early racing in the area with Schafer after she first arrived late last year.

She started her career in country Victoria.

Pretty Cindy was transferred over to the kennel of Belford in the middle of March this year and she has not looked back.

“It is a different scenery and everything, which has really helped her,” Schafer said.

As Schafer only prepares a small team of seven chasers, he believes Belford’s larger kennel with more than double what he has in work has been the catalyst for the bitch’s turnaround in form.

Schafer thinks Pretty Cindy likes noise and action, which she experiences around a busy kennel like Belford’s.

Pretty Cindy finished seventh in four straight races through January and February before moving to Belford’s team.

Since the move, she has claimed 12 races, headlined by Tuesday’s Futurity crown.

“She has proved she can compete with the best dogs up here,” the owner said.

“She has beaten Balts Orson a few times as well as Plum Tuckered, which is a Brisbane-level dog.

“I am pretty sure she would be competitive down there but I will leave that all to Brad, he got her going again so it is all up to him what he wants to do with her.”

Belford put the polish on a career-best season in 2022, preparing 188 winners that smashed his previous high mark.

He has recently ticked past the 140 mark with three months to go in the campaign.

The Gumlow-based Belford prepared a treble on Tuesday evening with Elaine Danced and Tenement Hall joining Pretty Cindy in the winners enclosure across the 12 event program.

From a My Redeemer and Miss Energiser litter, Pretty Cindy is nearing $50,000 in career stakes from her 51 starts, which has yielded 17 victories.

She used the inside draw to perfection on Tuesday, leading in the early stages and she was not headed again over 498 metres.

“It was a good run, she just has to be in front,” Schafer said.

“She does not like it at times when they push up inside of her. Brad thought if she led then she could not be run down.

“She seems to go again when she is about 50 metres out from the winning post, she is a strong bitch.

“It is good prize money this race and it is getting very competitive with the standards of racing in Townsville now, which makes the quality of dogs better.”

While Schafer could not get the best out of Pretty Cindy, the rest of his kennel is ticking along nicely.

Schafer’s Balts Orson won the 16^th race of his career on Tuesday in a free for all event.

Balts Orson ran into third in the feature Townsville Cup earlier this year, going down by just over three lengths to Rockhampton’s More Peaches.

Schafer has seven dogs in work and is aided by his wife, who also has a handler's licence.

Fellow local trainer Mark Partland also had an evening to remember on Tuesday night, preparing three winners across the program.