Gear change for Guest House as Price aims for breakthrough Slipper win
Mick Price is hoping a crossover noseband can improve the focus of the headstrong Guest House (Home Affairs) as he seeks a breakthrough victory for his trainer and strives to improve the recent record of colts in Saturday’s Golden Slipper (Gr 1, 1200m).
Having his first run in a month since his third in Caulfield’s Blue Diamond Stakes (Gr 1, 1200m), Guest House could raise a couple of firsts if successful in the $5 million Rosehill highlight.
It would bring an affirming early Group 1 for his sire Home Affairs. Coolmore’s young stallion – looking likely for a service fee boost from his $82,500 of 2025 – is off to a flyer, leading the first season sires’ tables on both sides of the Tasman, with a Group 2 winner in New Zealand and a Listed victor in Australia.
Guest House counts as his highest earner though he’s yet to crack a stakes victory, having debuted with a two-year-old handicap win at his home track of Cranbourne before a tough second in the Blue Diamond Prelude (Gr 3, 1100m), and his third in the main event.
For all of Price’s successes – he won 35 Group 1s solo and has 13 in partnership with Michael Kent Jnr – the respected trainer is still chasing a first win among Australia’s Big Four of the Slipper, the Melbourne Cup (Gr 1, 3200m), Cox Plate (Gr 1, 2040m) and Caulfield Cup (Gr 1, 2400m).
He has a strong record with juveniles having won the Blue Diamond twice, with Samaready (More Than Ready) in 2012 and Extreme Choice (Not A Single Doubt) in 2016.
But he’s only come tantalisingly close in the Slipper, claiming thirds with Samaready and then with Flying Artie (Artie Schiller) in 2016, and fourth with Ready For Victory (More Than Ready) in 2015, when that colt ran wide on the home turn and only wider down the home straight.
While a Slipper win for a colt wouldn’t count as a first, Australia’s greatest stallion-making race has been dominated by fillies in recent years, to the chagrin of some.
Females have won six of the past nine editions, the past two thanks to Marhoona (Snitzel) and Lady Of Camelot (Written Tycoon), and with Fireburn’s (Rebel Dane) 2022 victory giving them three of the past four.
The three colt winners in that nine-year period have gone to stud. Farnan (Not A Single Doubt) and Stay Inside (Extreme Choice) are making a good fist of it so far in their early seasons with runners, while Shinzo’s (Snitzel) eldest are foals.
Therefore a victory for Guest House would be warmly appreciated by Price, who bought the colt with Roll The Dice racing and Rogers Bloodstock for $270,000 from Newgate Farm’s draft at 2025’s Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale.
“I’d love to win it. I’ve been thereabouts but no victory so far,” said Price, who’s won his share of other stallion-makers such as Extreme Choice’s Blue Diamond, and the three-year-old Flying Artie’s Coolmore Stud Stakes (Gr 1, 1200m).
“The Slipper is the ultimate two-year-old race in Australia. The fillies have done well in the race lately. They’re lighter, sharper and faster. Colts are not easy. They get things wrong and misbehave.
“But usually any colt who wins the Slipper will find a good home at stud, and hopefully it’s Guest House.”
The sixth foal of the twice stakes-placed Flamboyant Lass (Stratum), Guest House was sent out a $4.80 second favourite in the Blue Diamond behind $4.60 shot Closer To Free (Street Boss), Danny O’Brien’s colt who ultimately finished second behind Streisand (Magnus).
Guest House’s run for third was meritorious, weaving a passage home after being blocked early in the straight having trailed the leader, and being beaten one length. Yet he didn’t show a great burst of acceleration once clear, rather taking time to work through his gears before hitting the line strongly.
Price is hoping the addition of a crossover noseband will help make him more responsive. At the same time he accepts the sizeable colt will take his time to hit top speed, and is hopeful a faster tempo and the longer Rosehill straight will help his Slipper chances.
“I was happy with the Blue Diamond run,” Price told ANZ News.
“Whilst he got a little bit wrong and he had to zig zag in the straight, I still thought he ran very well. He might not have been smoking up, but he was still finding the line at the finish.
“He’s a big horse and it did take him a while to get going, and that’s the thing about him. The Slipper’s a big, open, 1200-metre race and there’s usually speed on – they don’t usually sit up – and I think that part will suit him.
“The thing about the Slipper is you’ve got to find your position by the first corner. If you’re three-wide and posted after that corner it’s never beneficial. Hopefully that’s not him.
“He needs to do things correctly, to bounce out and put himself in a reasonable position. He’s not the quickest out of the barriers, but hopefully he can muster up and find a good position after 400 or 500 metres, and when they get to that corner, hopefully he’s found a good position.”
Price said Guest House had been working well clockwise since settling in at the stable’s Rosehill satellite base, and would finish his preparation with a Tuesday morning gallop under race jockey Zac Lloyd.
“The only change we’ve made is a crossover rubber noseband – just for a bit of control and to just keep his mouth closed, and so the rider gets a bit of a proper response from him,” Price said. “He wasn’t quite respecting the bit and the bridle, but now he seems to be pretty respectful of it.”
Guest House goes into the world’s richest two-year-old race without a barrier trial since his last run, in the Blue Diamond. Price believes that will add freshness to the equation of trying to have the colt on-song for two major assignments a month apart.
“I get the Slipper picture has changed since the Blue Diamond,” he said. “The difficulty will be trying to peak him twice. He was ready to go in the Blue Diamond and he came very close there.
“But I would say, he’s a big, strong, robust colt, he’s got no issues with his knees, shins, or joints, and his immune system is good.
“He’s been lovely and bright since he’s been in Sydney and he’s eating well. So I don’t think he’s trained off, and I think he’ll run very well towards the end of the Slipper.”
The Price-Kent stable initially looked set to have a double barrelled colts attack on the Slipper. But Big Sky (Bivouac), after winning his first two starts to earn Blue Diamond favouritism, was scratched from the Caulfield feature for lameness and subsequently sent to the paddock following minor surgery “to have a cartilage clean-out”, Price said.
“The spell will do him the world of good,” the trainer said. “He’s an immature type of horse, so I think he’ll be a lovely horse in the spring.”