A disco might seem an unlikely venue to launch a career in greyhound racing but Devine Kennels’ Pat Parrelli had no interest in the sport until he visited a dance hall near Central Station as an 18-year-old and met a girl named Margaret Watt.
Margaret was the daughter of Leah and Hec Watt, and while she had no interest in greyhounds her parents trained a team at Rossmore, in south-western Sydney.
By 1963 Pat was a regular visitor to the Watt kennels and was “treated like a son’’ by Hec and Leah by the time a fawn bitch, by Black Top from Busy Beaver, was whelped in 1966.
“Hec expected this bitch, nicknamed Sweetie, to be something special and asked me to think of an appropriate name for her,’’ Pat recalls.
“I used to mow the Watts’ lawns and was on a ride-on mower which had a sticker advertising fuel called BP Zoom.
“So I suggested Hec call his fawn bitch Zoom Top and that’s how our greatest greyhound got her name.
“I went all over Australia with Leah, Hec and Zoom Top, from when she won her maiden at Goulburn at 13 months of age and throughout her career which saw her named NSW Greyhound Of The Year in 1968 and in 1969.
“As a trainer Hec Watt was ahead of his time, Never feeding a greyhound the same meal two nights in a row and always insisting ‘Never feed a dog something you would not eat yourself'.
“He would not feed mince and always cut meat up by hand because dogs gulp their food - they don’t chew. He reckoned this forced their stomach acids and stomach muscles to work.
“His son Geoff, who died this year, also taught me a lot. For me, he was the greatest trainer that ever lived.
“Geoff won the Sydney trainers’ premiership five years in a row, competing against greats like Neville Ballinger, Jim Coleman, Les Harper, Bob Doak and Kenny Howe.’’
Classy Bomber, a son of Hec Watt’s top notch sprinter Top Bomber, was Pat Parrelli’s first winner as a trainer while Quality Zoom gave him his first metropolitan success.
Quality Zoom might not have been anywhere near as good as Zoom Top but she was almost as versatile, winning over 580 and 790 yards at Wentworth Park and in a sizzling 43.30 over the 800 at Harold Park.
"The biggest plunge I landed as a trainer was with Tabasco Road when he won over 457 metres at Harold Park in a flying 26.20,’’ Pat said with a smile.
“His Brisbane owner flew 25 of his mates to Sydney to help him put the money on and they netted close to a million dollars.
“As a reward, the owner let me keep the $880 first prize money!"
Pat Parrelli’s biggest year as a trainer was 2009 when Devine Road, owned by his younger son MATTHEW, won two group finals, the Wentworth Park Magic Maiden and Peter Mosman Classic.
“Those wins were especially significant because MATTHEW’s mum, my first wife, Carol, died after a long struggle with leukemia,’’ Pat recalled.
“She gave birth to MATTHEW while she was battling the illness and passed away when he was just three years old.’’
Pat, now 68, remarried eight years ago and declares his second wife Vicki “the best Group 1 winner I could possibly have.’’
In this trainer profile series everyone who had the privilege of seeing Zoom Top in action has declared her without equal and Pat is no exception.
“She won over 300, 400, 500, 600, 700 and 800 yards, no other greyhound has done that,’’ Pat asserts.
“And when they could not get a field to oppose her in a top grade 800 yards race at Harold Park, Hec Watt told the graders to put her in the 500 yards Invitation Staks.
"She bolted in!’’
