It was just over an hour after Shall Not had won for a 16th consecutive time up the Richmond Straight on Saturday morning, but this time, Darren Sultana hadn’t received the usual phone call.
Without fail every time Shall Not raced, the owner would call the trainer for a post-race, post-mortem. But not this time, and sadly, not ever again.
Shall Not was raced by Terry Hill who tragically died after suffering a heart attack at the age of 52 during the week while in The Philippines.
“Usually by now he would have rung me,” Sultana said shortly after the race. “Win, lose or draw Terry would ring after the race and we would chat about it. It’s a little bit surreal today, and to think that phone call won’t ever happen again.
“I just wanted him (Shall Not) to win today to honour Terry. I don’t get emotional with races, I keep to myself, but today it just felt like the world was on top of me today for some reason. Everyone, including me, wanting Shall Not to win for Terry.
“It was a little bit weird but it felt like there was more pressure today than any other day I’ve been at the racetrack.
“But he got it done. He is just a competitor, the dog, a mad chaser, a brilliant race dog, and I’m sure he (Terry) would be watching over us today.”
Like most Darren said he found the news of Terry’s passing hard to believe last Wednesday when a mate called to let him know.
“When I first heard I said no way, then the phone started ringing and one of Terry’s good mates called me and was bawling his eyes out. That’s when I knew it was true. So very sad.”
While his rugby league career and his forays into the media via the Footy Show were well known and documented, Hill has always had a love of greyhounds and owned many, many very good greyhounds through the years, with Shall Not being the latest of those.
“He loved any dog. Dogs were his passion. They keep talking about his football but he loved dogs more than football just from everything I could gather from him,” Darren said.
“He loved them, and he did have a soft spot for this one (Shall Not).”
Terry Hill played 14 matches for NSW in State Of Origin, but he also thrived on the Origin format in greyhound racing, and has been a constant as captain of the NSW team in recent years.
Last year Shall Not also gave Terry an Origin victory when he won the Straight of Origin race up the straight at Capalaba, south-east of Brisbane, and he was desperate to do it again.
“I think he loved the greyhound Origin more than the football Origin,” Darren said.
“He has had one mission on his mind for the last three months. Terry was an owner who never got too involved, he let me do my thing, but he found out when the Straight of Origin race was on at Capalaba and he said you have one mission, the Capalaba race. I said: “yeah, we’ll just take it as it comes”, but he was like: “no, I found out the date, that’s what you’ve got to set him for”.
“Hopefully we keep him sound and have another crack at that for Terry.”
The Straight of Origin will run at Capalaba on Sunday, June 16.
