Trainer Mick Price remains confident in Guest House despite the colt’s difficult run at Caulfield last weekend, with bookmakers easing his quote for the Group 1 Blue Diamond Stakes.
The son of Home Affairs is currently rated a $7 equal second favourite for the two-year-old feature behind stablemate Big Sky at $4.
Guest House finished second to Closer To Free in the colts and geldings division of the Blue Diamond Prelude after starting a short-priced favourite, but Price said the performance enhanced rather than dented his credentials.
“He was good, wasn’t he? Watching the race, he fumbled the start, crossed his legs, he messed it up, and he’s a horse that should be going forward in his races,” Price said at the Inglis Classic sale.
“He took charge of Jamie (Melham) and he was pulling hard and deep with no cover the entire way.
“I thought, ‘those horses rarely run well, this thing’s going to run seventh’, so for him to climb back and run second and show some real guts, I thought it was a really good effort. He’s pulled up well, so he’ll take his place.”
Jamie Melham will retain the ride on Guest House, while Ben Melham will partner fillies’ Prelude winner Streisand instead of Big Sky, who will be ridden by Jordan Childs in the Blue Diamond.
Price also strengthened his investment in leading first-season sire Home Affairs at the Inglis Classic, purchasing a colt out of the Galileo mare Anjeo for $280,000.
Earlier in the sale, the Melbourne trainer secured a colt by Extreme Choice out of Altair’s Glow for $360,000 from the Newgate Farm and Gooree Stud draft.
“These Extreme Choices – I know there’s some in Melbourne Premier, and if you get a really hot market they’re going to have a $1 million or $2 million in front of them – so I think for what I paid for a beautiful, strong, chestnut livery colt, that was fantastic,” he said.
“Obviously, I trained his father, and what an amazing stallion he is. He’s got the best strike rate of getting horses in Group races.”