PRICE KEY DIAMOND PLAYER OUT

IN a shock on the eve of the Group 1 Blue Diamond Stakes, the favourite Big Sky was scratched on Friday morning by the Mick Price and Michael Kent Junior stable, but they still have the most fancied runner with Guest House.

Price said while Big Sky passed the mandatory Racing Victoria veterinary test earlier in the week, he wasn’t happy with him.

“He trotted up cleanly yesterday. He had a little canter this morning and his action isn’t what it should be. I had a look at the stride data and it wasn’t what it should be,” Price said on RSN.

Price said Big Sky’s stride was shorter than it should be and he had Big Sky’s knees x-rayed and it was discovered there was “a little bit of immaturity in the off front and near front,” and there could be a bone chip there.

Price has been upbeat for weeks about the prospect of Guest House, who won at Cranbourne on his debut and then finished second in the Blue Diamond Prelude to Closer To Free.

Guest House will be ridden by Jamie Melham and is $4.80 to win the Blue Diamond Stakes with Unibet.

“Guest House, if he gets the race right, he can win. He’s a big, powerful horse and he’s fast. He got it all wrong and he still ran second the other day,” he said.

“He’ still learning. He’s a big, strong, robust horse. If the horse gets it right and Jamie gets it right, he will be hard to beat.”

Price said he wouldn’t be surprised if Guest House took the front at the start and he didn’t have a problem with him taking up that position.

“I’m confident he’ll bounce good and he can go to the front. It wouldn’t worry me if he led as if he gets to the front, he tends to come back a little bit. He’s an exciting horse, he’ll be hard to beat.”

Price is aiming for his third Blue Diamond Stakes win, having already won the race with Samaready (2012) and Extreme Choice (2016).

Price’s runners tend to run well in the Blue Diamond Stakes as he has prepared six Blue Diamond runners since 2012 at $15 or less and they have all finished top four.

On the flipside, the Blue Diamond Stakes has proven to be a bogey race for Melbourne’s leading trainer Ciaron Maher, who saddles up the second favourite, the undefeated Unit Five, Milsons Point and Ghana’s Akan as he has had 16 starters and is yet to have trained a placegetter.

It has proven to be a great race for the under-rated rider Michael Dee, who has had three rides in the race for two wins, which were on Little Brose in 2023 at $9.50 and Devil Night last year at $16.

He rides the impressive debut winner Closer To Free for trainer Danny O’Brien.