It started out as a plan to boost confidence but to quote trainer Peter Lagogiane, “I think we have unleashed a very, very good middle distance bitch.”
Lagogiane is speaking about Make Them Cry his finalist in Saturday night’s Group 3 Ladbrokes Summer 600 Final at Gosford.
Make Them Cry was one of three heat winners at Gosford on January 28 clocking 34.49s. Two weeks earlier when having her first attempt at the Gosford 600, she clocked a very smart 34.28s.
“I think we have unearthed a great little distance bitch here,” Lagogiane explained. “To be running around 34.2s at Gosford, she had shown she's got the ability, she has just had to get it right, and I think we've unleashed a very, very good middle-distance bitch here.
“They tell you what they want and can do. She'll tell us if she will get 700m. Earlier on she never showed the real strength to be a 600m bitch. She showed the pace, but we just put her over the 600m just to see if we can give her the confidence because she started missing it (the start) over the 500m and then when she started running (600m), and the times she has run, we thought wow. It's not something that you plan for and sometimes you can’t say they're going to run it (a longer distance) until they do run it.
“Like I said they tell you and that's what she told us, that she wants to be over the 600m and that's where we're keeping her.
“She's got the three box on Saturday and there's a lot of speed from the one (Blazing Raso) and also directly to her intermediate outside (Screaming Violet). The two, Zipping Chaplin, he’s the obvious danger in the race, but if she finds the bunny and is running what she can run up front, she's going to be in the finish for sure.”
Fastest qualifier is the Courtney Barnes-trained Zipping Chaplin who clocked 34.31s in the heats, while the other heat winner was Gosford Cup winner Gets Late Early for Minnie Finn who was a heat winner in 34.62s.
The line-up is a strong one with several chances including Muswellbrook Cup winner West Rock Casey, and Dennis Barnes’ pair Nangar Gypsy and Nangar Rocket.
Lagogiane will have another two interesting runners on Saturday night in the Gosford Versus Maitland Final.
In last Tuesday’s heats his bitch She’s That Girl was having her third start when she maintained her unbeaten record and clocked 28.92s. Half an hour later her kennelmate Depeche – a sister to Make Them Cry - clocked 28.93s. For perspective, the Gosford track record stands at 28.88s set by champion sprinter Wow in a Gosford Cup heat back in 2020.
“I’d sound a bit cocky if I said it didn’t shock me when they come out and go just a whisker off the track record,” he said. “Yes shocked and surprised, but I think more importantly, for most trainers out there, you're relieved because they've come out and shown you the potential that these bitches have shown us in the pre-training stages.
“Especially She’s That Girl. We've had her over here for just under three months. Paul Sioukas sent me this bitch from Adelaide. They're very excited and said to me: “You know, I think we've got a nice little bitch here that can run”. We put her through the paces and every trial, she just kept improving, and we knew she had the potential to do it and to run that on Tuesday just proved that.
“And then Depeche came out and ran what she ran. It’s her second prep and she’s taking it all before her. I think she won a maiden in 29 6s at Wentworth Park so we knew she had the potential.
“But she got the Wentworth Park blues. She got a couple of checks there and as they can do at Wentworth Park, you know, it's a tricky track Wenty and dogs either take to it or they don’t.
“We thought she took to it early but she never went on with it. So we took her away, gave her a break, freshened her right up, we went to Richmond and Gosford, and gave her a hit out at The Gardens too, and at Maitland too. We took her around the traps just keeping it different for her and she certainly sparked her up.
“Look if they both stay out of trouble, they both should be in the finish and what we're hoping for is they're both fighting it out on the line, and depending on what the track’s like, we'll see if they can emulate what they did last Tuesday.”
