Lagogiane Unleashes Mosman Beast

PETER Lagogiane jokes that he put his marriage at risk when he purchased joint Group 1 Ladbrokes Peter Mosman Classic favourite Beast Unleashed for a sizeable five-figure sum.

But Lagogiane's gamble has already paid off handsomely for the Llandilo trainer, wife Jodie and co-owner Dawn Garrett as Beast Unleashed has won eight from 11, highlighted by the $150,000 to-the-winner Group 2 Launching Pad, banking $187,435 in the process.
And Lagogiane is now optimistic about celebrating his first Group 1 victory on Saturday night when Beast Unleashed, an April '16 son of Barcia Bale and Little Miss Hap, exits box three in the $75,000 to-the-winner Peter Mosman at Wentworth Park.
"He's the best I've had; by a long way," Lagogiane said.
"I've had some good dogs but none better than him and that's why we dug deep into our pockets to buy him. I told my wife, Jodie, that we've got to buy this dog and she said here are the divorce papers, sign here!
"When we came back from Dubai I told Jodie we would never own again, we'll just train, but I went to the Richmond Auction and bought six pups! Then when Beast Unleashed's previous owner was going to sell him I bought him, but having a partner in Dawn Garrett made it a lot easier.
"He always showed us the ability- he won his first start at Richmond over 400m by 17 lengths – so it's been no surprise to us what he's done. The dog is all class."
After a sensational clean-sweep of the three-round Launching Pad series at Sandown in March, Beast Unleashed made his Wentworth Park debut in the Peter Mosman heats, where he missed the start hopelessly but staged a remarkable recovery to finish third to Elusive Wave.
Having survived that scare, Beast Unleashed started $2.60 favourite from box two in the second of two semi-finals held last Saturday and the Lagogianes breathed a huge sigh of relief when he came out running and led throughout in 29.82, defeating Victorian Chief's Empire by 1.25 lengths.
"I was more nervous on Saturday than I was before the Launching Pad," Lagogiane revealed.
"Wentworth Park is probably one of the trickiest tracks in Australia, especially for a young dog. You've only got to look at what happened in his heat, when he hit his head on the boxes. But when I saw him jump cleanly I thought it's going to take a good dog to beat him and it will be the same story on Saturday night.
"I was pretty disappointed when he didn't win his heat but I was happy with his run. After the race he was swaying around in the catching pen and I was really worried. But on Sunday morning I saw a lump on his head and took him to the vet and the vet told me he was heavily concussed."
The opening semi-final was won by Victorian My Redeemer, an April '16 Fernando Bale – Where's Demonica half-brother and kennelmate to 2017 Peter Mosman runner-up Up Hill Jill.
Recent winner of the Group 1 Harrison-Dawson at Sandown, the Dave Geall-trained My Redeemer won his heat in 29.93 and then started $2.90 favourite from box eight in the first semi, where he trounced Velocity Liberty by seven lengths in a best of night 29.64, his 14th win from 25 starts and third from four at Wentworth Park.
The two dominant semi-final winners share favouritism with Ladbrokes at $2.80, with Beast Unleashed drawn the better in three, while My Redeemer has to contend with box five, as he strives to go one better than his superstar sibling Up Hill Jill in 2017.
"You can never go into these races brimming with confidence but I have confidence in the dog and I have confidence in what he can do," Lagogiane offered.
"Sooner or later he'll show us what he can do at Wentworth Park. He had two box-to-boxes at Wentworth Park when he was a pup, very early in his training career, and the dog flew.
It took him a couple of looks at Sandown but at his second start there he ran 4.94 early and Fernando Bale's first section record is 4.90.
"We wouldn't want to have My Redeemer sitting on our tail straight from the start. If that happens I think we might be in trouble at this stage of his career. My Redeemer has had 25 starts and we've only had 11.
"We would love Beast Unleashed to win a couple of Group 1s and go to stud because dogs like this don't come around very often.
"We won a Group 2 in the Launching Pad and we won the Group 3 Magic Maiden last year (Blitzing Lass) but we haven't won a Group 1 yet. Set To Storm was the fastest qualifier for last year's Peter Mosman but ran fifth and Shallay Pallay looked like he was going to win the Vic Peters before he threw it away."