Hill, Sultana Primed For Winning Origin Repeat

LEAGUE legend Terry Hill was sulking all last week when the NSW Blues were humbled once again by the Queensland Maroons, but Terry reckons he will savour his own revenge come the Straight Of Origin at Capalaba on Sunday week.

Hill, the Origin greyhound series coach, and trainer Darren Sultana, are defending champs having brilliantly won the race last year with straight track champ Mr. America.

And this year Hill and Sultana are back with current star Shall Not, a sensational Capalaba winner in 19.53 last Sunday in his warm-up for the Straight Of Origin.

The selection panels for Queensland and NSW Straight of Origin teams have settled on the eight runners in this year's glamour race.

Qld runners will be: Coonamble Kid (Chris Brydon), Panama Canal (Tony Brett), Valhalla (Jedda Cutlack) and Lose Your Cool (Jeff Crawford).

NSW runners will be: Shall Not and Slingshot Rusty (both Darren Sultana), Canya Unleash (Michelle Lill), Commands Respect (John Dart).

“How good did he go,” was Hill's description of Shall Not's victory over Panama Canal and Feel The Magic last Sunday.

1️⃣1️⃣ straight wins for Shall Not (6)

?Capalaba Greyhound Racing Club – 366m – 19.53

?? Congratulations to Darren Sultana and Terry Hill! pic.twitter.com/sJXZfkD4Z7

— Dimity Maher (@DimityMaher) June 4, 2023

“And Darren is tipping he'll go much better on Sunday week.

“All credit to Darren putting in the hard yards to make sure everything goes right for the big race.”

The format for Straight Of Origin has changed from a heat and final event, to an invitational, one-off final run between the top four dogs from each state selected by RQ and GRNSW.

It has also received a prizemoney boost to $63,500 with the winner this year collecting $40,000, up from $15,600 in 2022.

Queensland's main hopes are the Chris Brydon-trained Coonamble Kid and Jedda Cutlack's Valhalla.

A 13-time winner at Capalaba, Coonamble Kid boasts a personal best of 19.38 (just two lengths off the track record).

Valhalla has been a revelation since starting a straight-track career, winning four of his past five starts including a win in the Capalaba Young Guns last month.

The box draw will be staged at Capalaba on June 14.

As Club manager, Erin Cameron, said: "Time to get excited!"