NSW straight track superstar Shall Not erased any doubts trainer Darren Sultana had about Healesville with a sparkling display in Wednesday's heats of the innovative Sportsbet Emerald series.
It was a case of third time lucky for Shall Not at Healesville, with the prolific speedster having only one minor placing to show from two previous visits to the Victorian venue.
Shall Not's two prior Healesville assignments saw him finish fourth in the G3 National Straight Track Championship and third in a 4/5th grade event.
"After being beaten twice, in the back of my mind I was starting to wonder whether he doesn't like Healesville," Sultana said.
"But there were no other big races coming up and I didn't need to trial him, so I decided to give it another crack.
"The first time I took him to Healesville he had the one box and got poleaxed along the rail for the first 100m. But he still flew home to run third.
"Then in the (National Straight Track) final he missed the start but hit the front halfway up the straight. When he didn't run a place I knew something had gone amiss and he was hobbling after the race.
"That's no disrespect to the dogs that finished in front of him. He was racing against the two best straight dogs in Victoria at the time (Unleash Collinda and Maybe Yesterday)."
Eight four-greyhound Emerald heats were held over 300m, with the eight fastest overall times, regardless of finishing position in their respective run-offs, advancing to Sunday's $30,000 to-the-winner full field final.
Heat honours went to Brooke Ennis' recent Australian Cup finalist My Magic Man, which clocked 16.41sec in the final qualifier, shading Shall Not's 16.45sec performance in heat five.
Shall Not, a December ‘19 son of Barcia Bale and Hillary, raced by former rugby league great Terry Hill, returned to Victoria having won his previous 11 starts at his home track of Richmond – where he boasts a remarkable 26 from 28 record.
Starting at a prohibitive $1.20 from box seven, he extended his picket fence to an even dozen and 44 from 64 overall.
Shall Not winning his Emerald Heat | Photo: Jason McKeown
"I was a bit worried about the five (Legendary Spyro) because I watched its replays and it heads to the outside fence," Sultana said.
"They bumped each other but he made it over to the fence and won well. I was really happy with him."
Shall Not will have to contend with box six in Sunday's second staging of the Emerald – dual track record holder Unleash Collinda won the inaugural edition.
"If the race was at Richmond, no worries!" quipped Sultana.
"He likes to race in the middle of the track at Richmond, but he wanted to get to the rail today.
"It is what it is. He's in the race and he'll benefit from another look at the track – he hadn't been there since August."
Amid speculation Shall Not had attracted interest from Ireland and could possibly be sold, Sultana was relieved when Terry Hill raised the not-for-sale sign.
"With the rumours about Ireland, I asked Terry what was going on and he told me he's not for sale, so keep racing him!"
