An unthinkable hat-trick of Ladbrokes Million Dollar Chase (MDC) titles remains up for grabs for trainer Peter Lagogiane after Nad Al Sheba claimed the Richmond regional final of the series on Wednesday afternoon.
The promising youngster flew around his home track to stop the clock in 29.41, two lengths clear of Justin King’s Copious and Magic Muffin for Mark Gatt.
A sixth straight semi-final appearance in the world’s richest greyhound series now awaiting the 52-year-old Lagogiane.
“This is bloody awesome…and I’m saying that with a big smile on my face,” Lagogiane said
“We knew he would improve on his heat run because he was slightly underdone going into it, but he was always going to run a good 500. The Melbourne dogs in that race are group level performers too so it was a nice win, that’s for sure.”
“We didn’t even earmark him for the race this year but we put him in the Phil Davis Memorial [in August] and that was his first 500m at Richmond. He was a tad unlucky running second in the final and once we saw the MDC heats were there too, away we went.”
Trainers watch on as the Richmond regional final field of the MDC jumps on Wednesday afternoon
The Llandilo-based trainer overjoyed with Nad Al Sheba’s rapid rise, especially as both the dogs’ parents once frequented the Lagogiane kennels.
“I trained Beast Unleashed and the mother too [Zipping Kelly, so that makes this win even more special. When we purChased him as a pup, he was the ugly duckling of the litter. He was just big and skinny, a real gangly pup,” Lagogiane said.
“But he’s just improved so much. He’s such a good little dog, he does everything right. And he’s from a stud dog that Chased his ringer out and a bitch that could run 700 so he’s built for it.”
And when quizzed on whether he could win the race for a third time after claiming the MDC with Mystic Riot in 2018 and Handsome Prince in 2020, Lagogiane had to offer a tongue in cheek response.
“Why not? They said lightning doesn’t strike twice and we proved them wrong, so we may as well try and get hit again,” he laughed.
Peter Lagogiane poses with Handsome Prince after winning his second MDC title in 2020
Elsewhere around the state, Jet Keen took out the Gunnedah regional final for local trainer Allan Syphers on Thursday.
The widest drawn runner in the field hit the front halfway around the first bend and didn’t give the chasing pack a hope with a strong win in a time of 30.41.
“I thought he was a good thing. Have a look at his run last week, he beat a group level dog in Embrace and she wasn’t here this time. I’m still hyped up about it because we’ve won a regional final,” an excited Syphers said.
“He’s only a young dog too. I had him for the heats of the Chief Havoc Cup and all of a sudden he got sick on me. We got over that eventually and I was pretty confident about him leading into the heats of this series.”
Syphers thrilled with the performance of a dog he bred out of “handy Chaser” Lizzy Keen.
“I’ve never even had a dog in the regional heats, let alone the semi-finals of the Million Dollar Chase so I’m pretty stoked,” Syphers added.
“People all around the state think to themselves, “if I can just win a heat of this race, that’d be great”. And now I’ve bred this dog and he’s done this. It’s not always about winning the big one, it’s just about getting there for a lot of people.”
“I run a fencing business so I’m just a part-time trainer working my way towards doing it fulltime. But I tell you what, training winners is more fun than putting up fences,” he laughed.
Froch for Tanya Nieuwendyk ran second to Jet Keen, with Julia Bush finishing third for one of the State’s form trainers in Jamie Bush.
All three greyhounds will now head to Wentworth Park on October 6 for the semi-finals of the Ladbrokes Million Dollar Chase. The 2023 Grand Final, worth $1 million, will be held on October 13.
