‘The mile gives him his best chance to win a Group 1’ – Space Rider leads Price and Kent Jnr duo in Guineas
Mick Price believes Widden Stud’s reigning champion sire Zoustar (Northern Meteor) could be on the verge of another major via largely forgotten colt Space Rider in the Caulfield Guineas (Gr 1, 1600m), a race whose place as a stallion-maker, the trainer feels, is worthy of examination.
Price landed the Classic with one of its longest-priced winners since its 1881 inception eight years ago with $101 shot Mighty Boss (Not A Single Doubt). He says he has two live chances to cause another boilover – though not quite as extreme – in Space Rider and Planet Red (Admire Mars).
Kia Ora Stud’s Space Rider, bred by Victoria’s Longwood Park, and to jump from barrier nine for Beau Mertens if emergencies come out, was around $34 on Friday.
Planet Red, bred by Scone trainer John Ramsey and with Jordan Childs aboard from gate five, was $21 for a win that would come too late for Japanese sire Admire Mars (Daiwa Major), who’s off the Arrowfield shuttle this season.
This Guineas appears laced with much of the uncertainty which, Price notes, has emerged regarding spring three-year-olds tackling the 1600 metres of late, part of the reason some are questioning the race’s status in terms of stud ramifications.
Chris Waller’s Autumn Boy – by a former Guineas winner in The Autumn Sun (Redoute’s Choice) – headed betting on Friday at around $3.90, despite an abject flop last start when seventh of nine as third-favourite in Rosehill’s Golden Rose (Gr 1, 1400m), albeit when trapped wide throughout, mostly with cover.
Reversing their market order from that day, Wodeton (Wootton Bassett) was on Friday around the $4 mark after finishing second at Rosehill. That was the expensive Coolmore colt’s seventh straight finish between second and fourth at short or shortish odds, as he emerges as something of a latter-day Swiftfalcon (Exceedance), only not quite that bad.
Last start Sandown 1400-metre quality handicap winner Navy Pilot (I Am Invincible) is the shortest of Ciaron Maher’s trio at $6 – alongside West Of Swindon (Wootton Bassett) at $17 and Observer (Ghaiyyath) at $23.
And Matt Laurie’s Vinrock (I Am Invincible), the one-time favourite and VRC-ATC Sires’ Produce Stakes (Gr 1, 1400m) double winner last autumn, is at $9 after stumbling at $1.65 when fifth to West Of Swindon in his first try at the Guineas distance in Moonee Valley’s Stutt Stakes (Gr 2, 1600m).
Amid this doubt-potholed landscape, Price isn’t sure bookmakers have his pair the right way around, leaning towards Space Rider although not denying the chance Planet Red – one of two geldings against 14 colts – might spoil the potential stallion’s party.
Space Rider himself has been another punters’ patience-tester. He began like a bomb with a debut 3.2 length win in a Magic Millions lead-up race in Brisbane in late December, but the balloon popped in a struggling fourth of eight next-up at $1.14, in another 1200-metre Eagle Farm two-year-old handicap.
Excuses emerged via an indifferent blood count, however, and Space Rider underscored the “forget run” assertion when he resumed as a three-year-old with a slashing 0.75 lengths win over 1200 metres at Moonee Valley in late August.
But the jury went out again when he followed that with a seventh of eight at $4.80 over the same course in the McKenzie Stakes (Listed, 1200m).
Stepped up 200 metres at his latest start, Space Rider may have let backers down again, at $5.50, but was an eye-catcher when fourth in the Caulfield Guineas Prelude (Gr 3, 1400m).
With no pace on, the colt was always at a sharp disadvantage in dropping to a two-length last of the seven. But he made up considerable ground in the straight to finish just 1.4 lengths off the winner, Estremo (Extreme Choice). Space Rider in fact kept on coming from a long way out to clock the fastest last six sectionals of the seven sectionals of the race, including a closing 600 metres of 33.54 seconds.
Planet Red, winner of his first two starts at Pakenham and Sandown before a fourth in the McEnzie, travelled two horses ahead of Space Rider that day and finished a meritorious third, 0.1 lengths ahead of his stablemate.
Price is confident that with more speed likely in the 16-horse Guineas, Space Rider will be seen at his best at the finish.
A $500,000 Magic Millions Gold Coast buy for Price, Tony Fung and bloodstock agent Dermot Farrington, Space Rider is the eighth foal of Longwood’s Fuddle Dee Duddle (Red Ransom), a Group 3 winner who scored up to 1600 metres, and who’s also thrown Space Rider’s Group 3-winning full-brother Brereton.
If he can succeed on Saturday he’ll be Zoustar’s 12 Group 1 winner, and his fourth with elite success over 1600 metres.
“He’s a nice colt, Space Rider. I thought he charged through the line and was quite strong last start,” Price, who trains in partnership with Michael Kent Jr, told ANZ News.
“I’m looking forward to him getting to a mile. Zoustar can get a mile three-year-old, the dam won over a mile, and we’ve been looking forward to getting him into this race. His two wins have been over 1200 metres, but he’s got a nice long stride on him.
“It was an average performance two runs back at Moonee Valley, but I think he was too close to his top that day over the 1200 metres.
“We’ve found that as he’s gone up in class he’s just better off given the chance to travel strongly on the bridle.
“So I think he’ll be rear of midfield in running, and in a full-field Caulfield Guineas, there’ll be a bit of a push on for speed. Yes, they might sit up mid-race a little bit, but still, not every spring three-year-old is a strong 1600-metre horse, so I think he’ll be one of the ones who are finishing strongly.
“If there’s a good chance at good odds, it might be him. The mile gives him his best chance to win a Group 1.”
Planet Red brings a rating of 73 compared to Space Rider’s 72 but Price disagrees with the market’s assessment of the two.
“I don’t think there’s a lot between them,” he said. “I wouldn’t dispute that they’re $20 chances. I wouldn’t have them any further out than that, but I’d certainly have Space Rider shorter than he is, because I think he’ll be finishing strongly.
“Planet Red is some sort of each-way chance. He will have a nice run in the race. I’ve done my best to keep the weight on him and he’s going into the race at his top, but he’s physically still lacking substance, and he’ll be a better miler in the autumn.”
And there, partly, is the rub concerning the question of how the Caulfield Guineas still sits in the echelons of stallion-makers, alongside shorter events better catering for Australia’s never-ending need for speed.
Revving Price’s hopes on his two, the past two Caulfield Guineas have been won by relative longshots.
Griff (Trapeze Artist) was at $31 in 2023 – when Militarize (Dundeel) ran fifth at $2.60 – despite Griff winning his two lead-up runs in the Exford Plate (Listed, 1400m) and Stutt Stakes.
Private Life (Written Tycoon) was on the fourth line of betting in an 11-horse edition when winning last year at $13, when Broadsiding (Too Darn Hot) managed only fourth at $1.80.
Militarize and Broadsiding fell flat after being last-start winners of Golden Rose (Gr 1, 1400m), and Price argues that Rosehill major is now a more important stallion-maker than the Caulfield Guineas.
Griff earned a ticket to stud, and now stands at Weona Park in Tasmania for $8,250. Private Life is standing for his owners Coolmore, at $19,250 (inc GST).
Broadsiding is at Darley for $66,000 (inc GST), admittedly having won four Group 1s in total. Militarize, who won three, went to Newgate Farm for $38,500 (inc GST), a venture aborted by infertility.
Mind you, four of five previous Caulfield Guineas winners are at stud with either much success – in the cases of Ole Kirk (Written Tycoon), Super Seth (Dundeel) and The Autumn Sun (Redoute’s Choice) – or high hopes and a $110,000 (inc GST) service fee in the case of nine-time Group 1 winner Anamoe (Street Boss). The other of the five was Golden Mile (Astern) who had medical problems which left his stud career still-born.
But Price contends that with the exception of Super Seth – whose only Group 1 win was the Guineas – for Ole Kirk, The Autumn Sun and Anamoe, Caulfield’s Classic was a cherry on top, rather than the basis for a stud career.
Asked if the Guineas was still “up there” among Australian stallion-makers, Price said, “No it’s not”, adding, “The Golden Rose is a better stallion-making race”.
“You have to be building a colt’s profile before the Caulfield Guineas,” he said.
“If you’ve got average form and you win a Caulfield Guineas, you may find a home somewhere at stud, but the colt winner of that race is not sought after as much as the major farms, because everybody wants speed.
“The Golden Slipper – there’s your gold. The Coolmore Stud Stakes – there’s your gold, both over 1200 metres.
“With the right horse, you can still find a good home at stud. The Autumn Sun was a high class horse, but he already had a profile before the Caulfield Guineas.
“It’s good winning it, but if you had a colt that won it and he was at big odds, there’s no guarantee the stud masters will come a’knockin’.”
Price found that out with Mighty Boss (Not A Single Doubt), who was still racing aged five when he died of colic.
Questions around the Guineas can sound similar to those about the VRC Derby (Gr 1, 2500m), which can throw up shock results as spring three-year-olds try covering that arduous journey.
On that note, Price believes the Derby should be shortened to 2000 metres – with a fine template seen in Kentucky at a similar stage of the northern season – and thus made a more logical sequel to a Guineas run. Likewise the VRC Oaks (Gr 1, 2500m) following the Thousand Guineas (Gr 1, 1600m).
As for the Guineas, there are similar arguments to those surrounding the Derby. Price feels even the mile of the Guineas three weeks earlier can find young horses out – hence some recent surprising results, and hence his optimism over Space Rider and Planet Red.
“Trainers are still working out their spring three-year-olds at this time of the year,” he said.
“Not everything is obvious. Who knows really who the strong 1600-metre horse is?
“They’re immature horses still – they don’t have a lot of race starts behind them.
“But we go into these races with a sense of timing and optimism and that’s what I’ve done with my two, and I couldn’t be happier with them. That’s all you can do as a trainer.”