Paw Vortex has claimed the biggest win of his career, taking out Thursday night’s McKenna Memorial (595m) at Sandown Park in start 78.

The son of Bernardo and Faithy Bale made the most of an inside run to reel in Eventuate, who exploded from the boxes and broke nine seconds to the first mark after finding the front with ease.

It was Paw Vortex’s sixth appearance at Group level and his first feature victory, backing up a strong qualifying performance where he finished second behind Tripped Out.

Trained by Correy Grenfell and owned and bred by Brendan Wheeler, Paw Vortex stopped the clock in a best-of-the-night 34.23 seconds.

Eventuate held on for second, while Overland Boy continued his rich vein of form with another strong performance to finish third.

Paw Vortex wins the Group 2 McKenna Memorial at Sandown Park from box three.

Paw Vortex boasts an outstanding record over the Sandown Park 595 metres, winning four of his seven starts and finishing runner-up on another two occasions.

Paw Vortex kicked off his career in style in 2024, when winning the Bidgee Cup in track record time in start 11. At the time, it was Team Grenfell’s fourth championship title at the Wagga track in five years.

More recently, he went close to feature race success earlier this year, finishing second to Paw Petrov in the Group Listed Maidment Memorial.

Now three-and-a-half years of age, Paw Vortex is proving that experience can still match speed, showing no signs of slowing down.