Mick Price knows how to win an Australian Guineas and Space Rider is on a path to the Flemington highlight for three-year-olds after taking out the Manfred Stakes at Caulfield.
Space Rider overcame what co-trainer Michael Kent Jnr saw pre-race as a tricky barrier ten to hold off the challengers to the line in the Group 3 event over 1200-metres to maintain a perfect record first-up at three for three.
“He is still a bit of a bull and he knows he’s good,” stable racing manager Tom Sheahan said.
Space Rider ($15) won by a ½-length margin over stablemate Job Done ($5.50), who will now be spelled, with race favourite Salty Pearl ($5) a ½-length away in third.
“Mick said not to get too far out of your ground because I wasn’t to see him through the line,” jockey Ethan Brown said.
“He bounced well and put himself there but he is a big colt who needs stimulation so I was happy to have him travelling with the tempo, even though we probably hit the front a bit soon.
“I just played around with him – one on the left, one on the right – just kept him thinking but when other horses got to him he pinned his ears back and wanted to win that race.”
Space Rider firmed from $26 into $15 for the Group 1 Australian Guineas (1600m) at Flemington on February 28.
Sheahan added that the Group 3 C.S. Hayes Stakes (1400m) at Flemington could be the son of Zoustar’s next assignment.
Price won the C.S. Hayes Stakes and the Australian Guineas with Grunt in 2016 before the partnership with Kent Jnr began.
