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Mile A Minute’s quest for back-to-back Healesville Cups begins on Sunday, drawing box six in heat five (1.14pm) of the straight-track extravaganza.

The Brad Greenough-trained star is fresh off defending his National title with an outstanding victory on the Q Straight last week and is looking to become just the third greyhound ever to win consecutive Healesville Cup titles (Koutafidamedes in 1997-98 and Schwartzanager in 2006-07).

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Mile A Minute takes on the likes of Group 1 winner Mepunga Shine, and the highly-touted Cookie Man – a winner of 19 races from just 30 career starts.

The heats kick off in race three (11.40am), with last year’s runner-up Zipping Gryllis looking to continue his solid recent form against the likes of noted wide-tracker Mepunga Rocky and Augustus Finch, a slashing 19.04 winner over the 350-metre Healesville trip just four starts ago.

Highly Abrasive looks the greyhound to beat in the second decider, mixing his form beautifully between one-turn and straight track racing of late, and the same could be said about Papa Easy in heat three, with the John Barbara-trained chaser missing a top three finish in just one of his 14 starts to date.

Heat four includes a greyhound who looks one of real dangers to Mile A Minute’s historic run. Serial Sticker is one of only a few greyhounds to defeat Mile A Minute up the straight this year, and he’ll be looking to bounce back into the winner’s parade after a gutsy second to the champ in last week’s National final.

The last of six heats is an intriguing clash, with Country Cups king Matt Loch taking on the undoubted talent of NSW raider Tarawi Therese, now in the hands of Jason Thompson, who has guided her to slashing victories at Horsham and Healesville.

Tarawi Therese (1) defeats Matt Loch (3) at Healesville last month in a time of 19.10 seconds over the 350 metres.

The winners and the two fastest seconds will make their way through to Sunday-week’s final, worth $40,000 to the winner. The Cup will be supported by the Highway 31 Maiden final on September 14, with a bevy of well-bred youngsters qualifying on Friday.