Peter Lagogiane confirmed he has bounced back from the devastation of losing three greyhounds with a mystery illness last November by landing a winning treble at Gosford last week and scoring again with Hersi at Wentworth Park on Friday night.
The highly promising Sugar Ray Lee, along with Showroom and Hector Khan, completed a huge night for Peter at Gosford while Hersi, who has broken 30 seconds at Wentworth Park, scored his third successive win at the track on Friday.
It has been a remarkable comeback as Peter’s kennels were shut down when Lucks Changed, which he describes as the "fastest bitch I have trained" along with potential long-distance star Honey Chicken and Hersi’s brother Magic Panda died.
Other greyhounds in his kennels, including his prize brood bitch Be Bossee and exciting prospect Cut Me Off, were also affected, but recovered.
"Be Bossee, who was a good short course speedster and is the dam of Cut Me Off, the fastest dog I have trained, has always been among the favourite greyhounds of my wife JODIE and if she had died I think it would have been extremely difficult to come back," Peter said.
“But Be Bossee survived and is now in pup to Barcia Bale and while he also recovered I don’t think Cut Me Off, who has since gone to NEW ZEALAND in the hope of finding form again, was the same dog when he returned to the track."
While greyhounds trained by John Finn also took ill from what was widely believed to be a mystery virus, Peter says all test results from his stricken greyhounds pointed to salmonella poisoning.
"I was having a terrific year in 2013, finishing in the top ten in the Wentworth Park trainer’s premiership, until it all turned sour when the dogs got sick," Peter said.
"In May last year JODIE and I had achieved the highlight of our career in greyhounds when we won four races at a single Wentworth Park meeting, scoring with Dillinger, Lucks Changed, Johan Khan and La Host, who had beaten another of our dogs, Pepper Khan, into second place."
Recovering from adversity though is nothing new to Peter, whose passion for greyhound racing remained undiminished despite a less than exciting beginning in the sport.
"My father Terry and uncle Zoomas had greyhounds so I grew up with them," Peter explained.
"As a kid I worked part-time in uncle Zoomas’ bakery and by the time I was 14 I had saved enough to buy a greyhound.
"My first dog, Our Boy Shawn, wasn’t much good and ran only two thirds from eight starts but I wasn’t discouraged.
"After I completed year 12 at High School I went to university to complete a bachelor of commerce course but didn’t open a book for six weeks before deciding uni wasn’t for me.
"So after doing some travelling I began working as a painter, always dreaming of eventually being able to train greyhounds professionally.
"I was a painter from when I was 18 until I quit to take on greyhounds full time at 35, which was seven years ago, and now I am living the dream.
"Currently JODIE and I have 14 greyhounds in work, the best being Vanessa’s Flame along with Hersi, who is named after the Western Wanderers football star and is owned by Mick Zantiras, a big Wanderers fan."
Although Peter has rarely been out of the winner’s circle, he rates Michelin Star, who raced in 2006 and 2007, as the best he has trained.
"He was a marvel because he came back after dropping two hind leg muscles to win a dozen races, many of them in town," Peter said.
"My favourite track is Wentworth Park because that is where the money is but I’ve had most success at Gosford, where I got a huge buzz by beating top trainer Jason Mackay to win their trainers’ premiership in the 2009-2010 season.
"I haven’t seen better greyhounds than Worth Doing, Rapid Journey and Brett Lee, but my favourite dogs were Charlie Gatt’s speedster Rumpus Brandi and Bill Barnett’s See Yah, who raced during the 1980s."
