Lagogiane ready to unleash the Beast


By Adam Dobbin, The Greyhound Recorder

IT took Londonderry trainer Peter Lagogiane all of about 19 seconds to work out he had something pretty special on his hands in the shape of serious Launching Pad prospect Beast Unleashed.

Looking every bit the star winning four of his first five starts, the son of Barcia Bale and Little Miss Hap has created a huge impression at Sandown Park in recent weeks, readying for his Launching Pad assault with sizzling 29.43 and 29.44 victories, posting blinding sectionals along the way.

“He’s been at home with us since he was about 16 months old – I met his owner Deon Hansen before I went over to Dubai and said to him at the time if he ever had a fast dog there was always a kennel here for him,” reflected Lagogiane (pictured, above with Beast Unleashed).

“That stuck with him and after this pup broke in well I was lucky enough to get the dog to pre-train.

“His first 300 trial at Richmond he went a tick over 19 seconds and at his second he went 18.70 odd. In that trial he ran home in 14.18 so I knew pretty early on we had something special.”

A brilliant all-the-way winner of his past two performances at Sandown Park, Lagogiane and loyal owner Dawn Garrett fended other rival offers late last week to assume the ownership of the rising two year old galloper after he was put up for sale.

“Dawn’s been a great supporter of our kennels and when the opportunity came last week to buy the dog she was more than happy to go partners with us, I’m extremely thankful to her, she’s a tremendous supporter of ours,” offered Lagogiane.

“He’s a really exciting dog and to know his future is now settled here is great, we can just focus on racing him which starts with Thursday night. He’s eligible for the Richmond Riches later in the year on his home track but for now we’ll just look to Thursday.”

Drawn box seven in the fourth Launching Pad heat on Thursday night at Sandown Park, on what is a fantastic program of racing, Beast Unleashed tackles Group 2 Great Chase hero Despacito, stepping out for the first time since early January for trainer Seona Thompson.

“This week will be the fourth trip down (to Victoria) so we’ve put the work in,” added Lagogiane, more than happy to point out he’s now got a firm grip on where the speed cameras are positioned on the Hume Highway.

“The first week we went down to trial he travelled terribly but still trialled well so I rang Deon after that and said he needed to get a ticket for this series.

“What’s most pleasing is he’s doing everything consistently, not many dogs are running 18.60/18.70 down the back at Sandown which he’s done the past few weeks and hopefully he takes that into Thursday.”

Lagogiane heads into Thursday night’s lucrative Launching Pad Series with a three-pronged attack, with Beast Unleashed joined by kennelmates Set To Storm and Zipping Kelly.

Set To Storm – a sizzling 29.63 semi-final winner of the Group 1 Peter Mosman Classic last June – has suffered an exasperating run with injuries, with Lagogiane confident the daughter of Barcia Bale is set for a forward showing come Thursday night.

“We’re really pleased with how she’s trialling and we can’t complain with the one box either,” added Lagogiane.

“Early on I thought she was going to be anything but she hasn’t had much go her way at all. She tore the back of her tendon last year and not a lot come back from that at all. I’m happy where she’s at and hopefully she can have a bit of luck from now.

“Zipping Kelly is a bit of a ring in actually, she wants longer but she’s taking the spot we had set aside for Binions who fractured a femur last week which was really disappointing.”

Open to greyhounds with 1-6 wins and no more than 30 starts, the group 2 Launching Pad is a Australia’s only sweepstakes event. Connections pay $2000 for a place in the heats of the three week series, and as the name suggests, has been the launching point for a number of the sport’s elite chasers.

The Launching Pad final carries a $150,000 winner cheque and will be run on Thursday 29 March.

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* This article was written by Adam Dobbin and first appeared in The Greyhound Recorder. It has been reproduced with permission 

 

Beast Unleashed (3) scores an impressive victory on his Sandown Park debut