Paraskevas' Classic Winning Wave

It was only one-hour before nominations closed for the heats of the Group 1 Maturity Classic (525m) that Andrew Paraskevas decided to have a ‘throw at the stumps' with New Wave Whine.

There were no complaints as the fateful late call paid off with a flying 29.81 second victory, New Wave Whine's seventh win from his last 11 starts.

The homegrown January '21 son of Zambora Brockie and Pretty Bomb was then allocated box one for Saturday night's $100,000 to-the-winner final, and strike rate star Paraskevas now finds himself with Sportsbet's $3.90 favourite.

"I'll be honest; it wasn't on the radar at all," he admitted.

"It was a last minute decision to run in the heats. I only entered him at 1pm.

"A friend of mine asked if I had anything for the Maturity and I said not really. But his last two runs at Warragul were good – he won in 25.46 – so he deserved to have a crack at it.

"I didn't have any expectations and it'll be the same on Saturday. I treated it like a maiden. I took him to the track and went for a drive into the city and got something to eat!

"It's all up to him now. We've got the red in a Group 1 that we weren't going to enter for."

New Wave Whine's dominant heat display – less than a length outside Zara Marnie's 29.75 benchmark – continued Paraskevas' freakish recent run.

? MATURITY CLASSIC HEAT ?

NEW WAVE WHINE (Rug 7) takes out the third heat of the Group 1 KCR #MaturityClassic (525m) at @MelbourneGreys in 29.812 seconds for trainer Andrew Paraskevas.

Result ?? https://t.co/LbgcivKWFN#GreyhoundRacing #PremierRacing pic.twitter.com/kQVRtiRooA

— WatchDog Racing (@WatchDogRacing) July 15, 2023

In claiming his 10th win from 22 starts, he was Paraskevas' fifth straight winner.

Amazingly, the Pearcedale owner/trainer/breeder's last 20 starters have run first or second, including 11 winners.

The midas touch extends to Andrew's father John, who's produced eight winners from his past 10 runners, with Every Four Years, a ‘cousin' to New Wave Whine, contributing seven victories.

"I know they've been going good, touchwood, but I don't really keep track of the numbers," Paraskevas said.

"Two of them (Maybe Yesterday and Every Four Years) have won five in a row, so that sounds about right."

New Wave Whine was making his second appearance at The Meadows when leading all-the-way from box seven in his Maturity heat.

The dominant front-running display was in stark contrast to his previous visit, last November, when seventh, beaten 10 lengths by another Maturity finalist in Tinker Norm.

"He went super, absolutely super," Paraskevas said.

"The dog is going enormous. He's always been fast, the litter is incredibly quick, so nothing they do really surprises me.

"Early doors he was very awkward, but they're close to being two-and-a-half and have had around 20 starts, so they're working out what it's all about. He's beginning much more consistently now.

"He's really the second stringer. I think his brother, Your Colour Room (11 from 23), has a bit more class, and if one of them was going to win a Group race I would've said it was him.

"New Wave Whine had three months off with a stomach injury and was a touch disappointing at his first run back. Dogs can do that when they're coming back off a spell and ever since then he's gone from strength to strength.

"I made a joke when he was getting swabbed that I'd take ‘the red' and put Tinker Norm in two, because I've raced against it before and he pushes up the track. And that's what we got."

Warragul wonders

NEW WAVE WHINE was triumphant for the sixth time in his last 10 starts in scorching time at Warragul.

SCHILLACI boosted his record to four wins (plus two seconds) from six races with a seven-length victory.#GreyhoundRacing pic.twitter.com/CbznmKMaao

— WatchDog Racing (@WatchDogRacing) July 12, 2023

New Wave Whine is another in an increasingly long list of breeding success stories for the Paraskevas family and their Sparkle And Fade syndicate.

His mother, Pretty Bomb (Knocka Norris x Father Of Mine), is a litter sister to Group 1 placegetter American Monster and a half-sister to a host of Group winners and finalists, including Nervous An Weird, My American Girl, Eye Got It, and Burn Like Fire.

"It started about 15 years ago when Trevor Allen gave us a bitch called Brandeen Misty to breed a litter with," he said.

"Our theory was to breed with the best and hope for the best, so we used Brett Lee and that produced Father Of Mine, Pretty Bomb's mother, so our foundation came from there.

"Pretty Bomb was extremely fast. She was as quick as her brother, American Monster, although her form (5 from 15) mightn't indicate that. She was horribly slow early, but her run-homes were enormous."