How Not Too hits Ipswich Cup heats in career-best form

By Isaac Murphy

A little over one year ago, 17-month-old How Not Too was trialling the house down, and Warren Nicholls thought he’d found his champion.

Whilst she may not have progressed as planned, persistence and hard work has the bitch looming large over Thursday’s Group 2 Ipswich Cup heats, coming off a series of career-best performances.

How Not Too’s last six starts have yielded four wins and two seconds, whilst almost breaking the 395-metre track record.

She has gone three from five over the 520 since stepping up, and no-one is more thrilled with the turn-around than Nicholls after going through plenty of trials and tribulations.

“For a bitch that was racing over the short course, she’s just so strong towards the back end of her races; it’s been a long time coming with her but she’s getting better and better with each run of late,” he said.

“I trialled her as a 17-month-old pup at Albion Park and she went 30.10, I drove home thinking I had the next superstar.

“I brought her back the next week to run with Copy Workshop and all she wanted to do was fight him into the sand pillars at the first turn.

“I wouldn’t call her aggressive, but she’s always just been a little bit mad and it’s taken plenty of hard work and time to get her to settle down and use that energy the right way.”

Nicholls always knew she had the strength to be a 500-metre commodity but playing up in the run was going to be a problem, so he improvised over the sprint trips.

“We started her over the shorts with the blinkers on her and she was going ok without any great results at Albion Park and Capalaba,” he said.

“She was getting a bit frustrated bumping around with them on, so we bit the bullet and took them off about ten starts ago and she hasn’t played up in a race since.

“She’s still a bundle of energy and gives you all you can handle on race day, but for the main part she’s keeping her mind on the job and the results have been following.”

Suddenly Nicholls is seeing the traits that had him so excited in the early days, as she continues to produce some stunning runs.

“Her last five runs over the 500 have been the best of her career, I’ve never had a dog with that big a motor and the will to win as well,” the trainer said.

“She’s got herself in some sticky positions and has the ability and presence on mind to get out of them where others can’t.

“She’s usually one of the first few away but the only time she’s led up this preparation is when she almost broke the track record (22.26) over the 395 metres, you’d love to see her do it the easy way all the time but it’s building plenty of character.”

That character was on full display in her Ipswich debut last Saturday night where she made a gun field look average on the eve of the heats.

“The field she beat on Saturday night was probably worthy of a Derby or Futurity Final, it was a big race and she didn’t disappoint sitting outside the leader and coming away from them towards the end - it was a quality win,” Nicholls said.

“I was hoping she’d run well, I gave her a trial on the Monday prior to that race because she hadn’t seen Ipswich and I had an inkling she’d run well after she trialled in 30.33, but it’s always good to see them do it under race conditions.

“We had the right draw out in box seven where the speed dogs inside would take us across to sit outside the lead, you do need that bit of luck but she’s starting to make her own as well.”

How Not Too goes from box three in the second heat of the Cup on Thursday, and Nicholls is adamant she’s ready for a Group final.

“I’m pretty happy drawing box three for her heat and this is no knock on the other dogs but it’s a winnable race on the times she’s run, but again she has to perform,” he said.

“Flying Jet is an exceptional Ipswich dog drawn out in the six, he’s won 11 races there but I think he’s found his peak whereas we’re still improving.

“He’s a big animal that’ll be charging across, so we’ve got to hope we avoid him on the turn.

“Shorino, It Ain’t Billy, I could go through all of them as they’re good dogs, but the way the cards have fallen I like our chances, we’ve got every opportunity to make a Group Final but it’s up to her.”

While How Not Too is the money dog, See Them Try also lines up for Nicholls in heat seven, who the trainer describes as an enigmatic chaser not without a hope.

“See Them Try has been doing a lot of racing at Ipswich and as frustrating as some of his placings are, they’re pretty impressive too,” he said.

“He was in all sorts of trouble 15 off them at the first turn and ran to within two-and-a-half lengths last start.

“He’s a proper lunatic and we just haven’t been able to get him to settle down, it’s pretty amazing that he’s run 30.50 with all his little quirks.

“He’s definitely worth a start if the breaks go his way, that’s a winning time.

“Our hopes are firmly with How Not Too, but there are worse dogs going around than See Them Try in those heats and if he happens to jump from box two, we could be in business.”