Belfords dreaming of perfect Townsville swansong

By Jordan Gerrans

Wildcard champion Federal Remark has given the leading Belford kennel a chance to have a perfect swansong to their time in Townsville in the upcoming Cup.

The Bradley Belford-prepared chaser was a stylish winner of Tuesday evening’s Wildcard Final, handing the classy dog automatic entry into the $112,500 Cup decider early next month.

The Belford team – led by trainer Bradley and wife Jackie – are in the process of relocating to South East Queensland where they will work their dogs from a new Churchable kennel.

They have continued to have dogs race in North Queensland in recent weeks as well as at Albion Park, Ipswich and Capalaba.

During their time training in Townsville, the Belfords have regularly been the leading kennel, headlined by putting the polish on a career-best season in 2022, preparing 188 winners.

With a glut of top southern trainers set to descend on the north for next week’s Cup heats, the Belfords are understanding that they face a tough task to lift the Group 2 Cup of 2024.

But, seeing as Federal Remark has already punched his ticket and can avoid the heats, they are dreaming of finishing their Townsville training stint with a prestigious Cup in their grasp come September 6.

“It would be a winning note to go out on,” Jackie said.

Jackie is also the former Townsville Greyhound Racing Club secretary.

The fawn brindle dog scored in a smart 28.48 seconds from the two alley to earn his spot in the upcoming Townsville Cup.

Federal Remark’s winning time was the best of the night performance from the North Queensland track on Tuesday evening as well as being the fastest time the dog had ever run on the surface in 12 attempts over the 498 metre trip. 

Jackie handled the dog on Tuesday evening alongside local dog man Jay Schafer with trainer Bradley looking after their team in SEQ.

“The time was so good, not far off the track record,” Jackie said.

“He did everything right. He has knocked our socks off this dog.

“I couldn’t believe the time. The dog outside of him jumped with him and I thought he was going to be in trouble at the first corner.

“But, the further they went, the further he went in front. I was pretty impressed.”

Plum Tuckered boasts the fastest time ever run over 498 metres at Townsville in 28.32 seconds, which the star bitch posted in the first month of this year.

Federal Remark enjoyed a southern campaign earlier this year, going around seven times at Albion Park and Ipswich.

He made his presence felt, winning on three occasions as well as being placed three times as well.

While the Belfords new kennel is still in the process of being set-up at Churchable, they have housed their greyhounds with Tom Tzouvelis at Park Ridge.

Federal Remark raced predominately over 431 metres at Ipswich through July before being built up to 520 metres ahead of his return to Townsville.

“We have had him planned for this for a while,” Jackie said.

“When we took him to Brisbane we put a lot of work into him and Brad selected the right races for him to wind him up to the 498 metres.

“He has just been so well in his work lately. He just loves the work and every time he is out of his kennel he wants to be in the runs and work.

“We can relax now and not have to go through the heats, he may have one hard hit-out between now and the Final.”

Top SEQ conditioners Tzouvelis, Travis Elson and Ryan Ayre, among others, are set to have runners in next week’s Townsville Cup heats.

Also at Townsville on Tuesday night across the 12-event program, local trainers Bobbie-Jean Chaffey, Phillip Rudall and Mark Partland prepared winning doubles.