diff --git a/core/sail/shacl/src/main/java/org/eclipse/rdf4j/sail/shacl/ast/targets/TargetChainRetriever.java b/core/sail/shacl/src/main/java/org/eclipse/rdf4j/sail/shacl/ast/targets/TargetChainRetriever.java
index d5ccfcf2d1..76d7231820 100644
--- a/core/sail/shacl/src/main/java/org/eclipse/rdf4j/sail/shacl/ast/targets/TargetChainRetriever.java
+++ b/core/sail/shacl/src/main/java/org/eclipse/rdf4j/sail/shacl/ast/targets/TargetChainRetriever.java
@@ -86,7 +86,7 @@ public class TargetChainRetriever implements PlanNode {
 	private final EffectiveTarget.EffectiveTargetFragment rsxTarget;
 	private final List<StatementMatcher> originalStatementMatchers;
 
-	private StackTraceElement[] stackTrace;
+	private final StackTraceElement[] stackTrace;
 	private ValidationExecutionLogger validationExecutionLogger;
 
 	public TargetChainRetriever(ConnectionsGroup connectionsGroup,
@@ -330,50 +330,20 @@ private List<BindingSet> readStatementsInBulk(Set<String> variableNames) {
 					Stream<EffectiveTarget.StatementsAndMatcher> rootStatements = Stream
 							.of(new EffectiveTarget.StatementsAndMatcher(List.of(next), currentStatementMatcher));
 					if (removedStatement && removedStatementTarget != null) {
-						Stream<EffectiveTarget.StatementsAndMatcher> root = null;
-						Throwable t1 = null;
-						int failed = 0;
-						try {
-							root = removedStatementTarget.getRoot(
+
+						if (!statementMatchers.contains(currentStatementMatcher)) {
+							// we only need to find the root if the currentStatementMatcher doesn't match anything in
+							// the query
+							Stream<EffectiveTarget.StatementsAndMatcher> root = removedStatementTarget.getRoot(
 									connectionsGroup,
 									dataGraph, currentStatementMatcher,
 									next);
-						} catch (Throwable e) {
-							failed++;
-							t1 = e;
-						}
 
-						if (failed == 1) {
-							logger.warn("currentStatementMatcher: " + currentStatementMatcher.toString());
-							logger.warn("sparqlValuesDecl: " + sparqlValuesDecl);
-							logger.warn("queryFragment: " + queryFragment);
-							List<EffectiveTarget.StatementsAndMatcher> collect = rootStatements
-									.collect(Collectors.toList());
-							for (EffectiveTarget.StatementsAndMatcher statementsAndMatcher : collect) {
-								logger.warn(statementsAndMatcher.toString());
-							}
-							for (StatementMatcher statementMatcher : statementMatchers) {
-								logger.warn("statementMatchers: " + statementMatcher.toString());
-							}
-							for (StatementMatcher statementMatcher : removedStatementMatchers) {
-								logger.warn("removedStatementMatchers: " + statementMatcher.toString());
-							}
-							for (StatementMatcher statementMatcher : originalStatementMatchers) {
-								logger.warn("originalStatementMatchers: " + statementMatcher.toString());
+							if (root != null) {
+								rootStatements = root;
 							}
-
-							System.err.println("\n");
-							t1.printStackTrace();
-							System.err.println("\n");
-
-							rootStatements = collect.stream();
-							System.out.println();
-							throw new IllegalStateException("Failed to get root for removed statement!", t1);
 						}
 
-						if (root != null) {
-							rootStatements = root;
-						}
 					}
 
 					List<EffectiveTarget.StatementsAndMatcher> collect = rootStatements.collect(Collectors.toList());