Because if the 2600m mobile trot has become a survival of the toughest, he might have a chance.
Sheemon returned from a spell with a handy third at Addington last week to Sunny Ruby, his toughest rival again tonight at the same venue.
"I was pretty pleased," Townley said.
"It was just a sprint home and we could never live with Sunny Ruby sprinting for a quarter.
"Sheemon just needs a truly-run race so his stamina can get him there over her speed. So the fact he hit the line well and still broke 28 seconds coming wide for his last quarter, we thought it was a pretty good run.
"It would be nice to see a truly-run race and see if we can outstay him — he’s at his best over long distance and staying races."
The 7yr-old is a mobile start star, winning 11 of his 45 starts behind the barrier arm including four group 1s — three of those in New Zealand.
However, his most recent win from a mobile was in last year’s Ordeal Cup, a week before his season horribly unravelled.
"We thought last year would be his best year and he started off good," he said.
"But he had an horrific race at Banks Peninsula in the mud and he was never the same afterwards, so we’re hoping the spell gets him back to where he was."
Sheemon finished 64 lengths last behind Zachary Binx at Motukarara that day, throwing his spring campaign into chaos.
"Last year he wasn’t at his best, I’m afraid. Running those thirds and fourths [in the autumn], he would have done better than that in the past.
"But he does seem to have come up very nice after his spell so we’re hoping he can go back to the level he was at two seasons ago."
Sheemon had six to eight weeks off after his autumn campaign finished with a fourth to Sunny Ruby on May 21.
Townley has not planned out too much between now and the Dominion Trot on November 11.
"It’s getting a bit tricky — I’m not going back to the grass at Motukarara and they’ve changed the conditions at Kaikoura, which is a damn shame.
"The Canterbury Park Trotting Cup [on October 7] is the only one in the meantime between now and the Cup meeting which will be a definite."
Sunny Ruby’s sprint over a furlong is hard to beat in the top trotting division, and only Monbet is possibly able to match her for sheer speed.
Her driver, Gavin Smith, said there getting Sunny Ruby clear at the top of the straight and letting her do her thing is "pretty special".
"There wouldn’t have been many as quick as her over a furlong," he said.
"After what she did last week — we pushed Sheemon out who has won $500,000 and came off the back of one who came second in the Rowe Cup, Valmagne, and put five lengths on them in the space of 50 to 60m — there’s no better feeling coming wide on a bend and accelerating away from them like that."
