Cyndie's Special Recipe For Group 1 Success

BILL and Cyndie Elson head into Thursday night's Group 1 Brisbane Cup final with Special Cyndie drawn the coveted rails and with a special recipe for success.

Special Cyndie goes into the final with just 12 race starts to her credit, five of those being wins and three others placings.

She meets group 1 winners Simon Told Helen, Hooked On Scotch, Black Opium and Oh Mickey in a fabulous rendition of the Brisbane showpiece. 

But after Special Cyndie claimed the scalp of Simon Told Helen in last week's heats, running him down in the straight to score in 29.80, confidence is rising about her prospects from the draw Thursday night.

She is yet another of the progeny of Magic Sprite combined with the Regal Silver damline to make it to the top.

That was the recipe behind the Elson family's great champion Cyndie's Magic, the daughter of Magic Sprite and Regal Silver thrilling racegoers with her remarkable finishing bursts so many times at her beloved Albion Park.

And with many tipping a roughhouse first turn for the Cup finalists, Bill Elson believes ideally boxed Special Cyndie is perfectly placed to be in the race despite what happens at that point of the event.

“The one thing I know is, she will be running on strongly at the finish,” he said.

“She's been a surprise that she has got so high in grade so quickly. But she has always shown lots of ability and will only get better.”

The Elsons are high in praise for the Magic Sprite progeny.

“They chase good, they are race dogs,” said Bill.

Now 72, Bill Elson and his wife Cyndie have 80 dogs on their Churchable property and 30 of those are in training, just about all of them from the Regal Silver damline.

Of the final, Bill Elson reckons local star Oh Mickey will be hard to toss.

“He's not foolproof, but gee he's a good dog,” said Bill. “He will be hard to beat.”

While Special Cyndie ran “only” 29.80 winning the heat last week, she did come off the two box for a 29.57 victory at Albion Park back on June 11.

* Pic courtesy Box 1 Photography