Stars Shine Brightest In Gold Bullion Audition

GROUP 1 winners Shima Shine and Tommy Shelby will face off in next Thursday's Group 1 Gold Bullion Final (520m) following impressive heat victories at Albion Park last night.

While there were plenty of impressive performances the spotlight shone brightest on Victorian superstar Shima Shine which set the track alight with a stunning effort over the sprint trip, setting the time standard with a sizzling 29.62 romp.

The Topgun hero is with Queensland trainer Greg Brennan for his Brisbane stay and the caretaker trainer said he hadn't missed a beat since arriving.

"He looked a million bucks as soon as we got him off the plane," Brennan said.

"First trip to Queensland you get a bit concerned with the heat and other things, but he came ready to race."

Throughout the recent Golden Ticket series trainer Steve Withers had stressed WA gun Tommy Shelby would do his best racing in a field of eight and the man who's guided him since day one wasn't wrong, the son of Fernando Bale clocking 29.70 in his qualifier.

"Winning the Golden Ticket would've been great but the whole reason we came across early was to get the double shot," Withers said.

"He's continued to look and feel better in himself each week he's been here and lining up against seven other dogs suited – he's a competitive beast and we saw that tonight."

Queensland's chances in the final will be headed by Tony Brett's wonder pup Sentenced which enhanced his reputation with what's becoming a trademark swooping run.

"It's been a stressful couple of weeks, after running the quickest time in the heats of the Golden Ticket we thought we were a pretty good chance, but it wasn't to be," Brett said.

"He had to do it the hard way and to his credit he fronted up and delivered tonight and we've got a spot in the big dance.

"The competition is going to be immense but that's what we signed up for … Group 1's don't come easy."

The surprise heat winner of the night was John Catton's Little Byrnes.

With just 14 starts under his belt he was giving up plenty of experience to his rivals but prevailed in 29.94, handing Catton his first group 1 finalist.

The remaining qualifiers for the $150,000-to-the-winner finale are Bianca Whitford's Ninetymile King, Nicole Connell's It Ain't Billy and Selena Zammit's Kooringa Lucy which will be joined by Golden Ticket winner Crazy Cool.

The in form bitch trialled 29.70 for Bob Jacobsen before the first race to round out her Gold Bullion preparations.

Box Draw: Group 1 Garrard's Gold Bullion (520m)

1. Ninetymile King
2. Little Byrnes
3. It Ain't Billy
4. Shima Shine
5. Kooringa Lucy
6. Tommy Shelby
7. Sentenced
8. Crazy Cool
9. Paint Face
10. Rowdy Roddy