Sky Wave the one to beat in Maitland Future Stars final

SKY Wave (Don't Knocka Him x Ella Lezah Apr '16) will start the favourite in Thursday's Future Stars Maiden Final (400m) at Maitland after a phenomenal effort in the heat of the feature last week.

Trained by Victor Sultana, Sky Wave started as the $3.50 second favourite after a fast 22.47 performance trial at the end of September and when the lids flew open last week she didn't disappoint, racing straight to the front and charging clear to win by five and a half lengths in a scintillating 22.19.

Victor's son Darren Sultana, who handled the black bitch at her race track debut, said they couldn't have been happier with her performance.

“We thought if she could repeat her pt it would be a match race between her and Jason Mackay's dog [Zipping Mack],” Sultana told Australian Racing Greyhound.

“He got into a bit of trouble and she jumped to the front which made her job easier, but she also improved a fair bit on the clock which was a little bit surprising.

“Once she led we knew she'd be hard to run down.”

Sky Wave is owned by Chenhao Sun and is out of the modestly-performed Ella Lezah (Bombastic Shiraz x Zilla Feb '10), which only won one race from 14 starts – a moderate 23.25 success at The Gardens.

However, her breeding is impeccable, with her grand-dam Zilla (Fortified Rush x Tammy Lezah May '03) a city winner and the dam of two time NZ Greyhound of the Year Little Mother (Big Daddy Cool x Zilla Sep '07), which was a multiple group 1 champion and the winner of 85 races.

Whilst Sky Wave has a long way to go to emulate the feats of some of her relatives, Sultana said she has shown plenty of ability thus far.

“We purchased her for the owner off a friend of ours after break-in,” Sultana explained.

“We have three from the litter and the best thing about them is that every time we trial them they just keep improving.

“She did everything right on Thursday and if she can do that every week she is going to be a very nice bitch.

“It's easy to run these times in the lower grades – she'll have to keep making the step up and producing it against the better dogs.

“Hopefully she can keep going on with it – if she does that I'm sure we'll have plenty of fun with her.”

Sky Wave will start from box four in the Future Stars final, which is worth $7,000 to the winner. She will meet a handy field including Billy Bright's litter mates Zipping Ripley (Fernando Bale x Zipping Tess Sep '15) and Zipping Buck which won their heats in 22.70 and 22.57 respectively.

Sultana concedes she will have to do everything right to get the win in the final, but says she is capable of doing so.

“The draw is a bit tricky, but if you make a mistake from any box you are gone.

“Box one would have been nice, but if she comes out like she did on Thursday she should be hard to beat.

“Even in trials she has always been a reliable beginner, so hopefully she begins well in the final.”

2017 Future Stars – box draw

1 – Son Of Rum
2 – Zipping Buck
3 – Zipping Ripley
4 – Sky Wave
5 – Nabiac Soldier
6 – Sketchy Fabio
7 – Bocelli
8- Dynamo's Double
Reserves
9 – Aston Duke
10 – Zipping Zip