Mick's Golden Year

Published: 18 Mar 2016

It’s the year that the might of Godolphin and Gai find themselves chasing to catch Melbourne’s Mick Price on the eve of the richest Australian two-year-old race.

Millions have been spent on bloodstock by Godolphin and wealthy owners have bought the finest yearlings for Gai, but just $150,000 and great horsemanship has seen Price jump to the top of the two-year-old tree this year.

Price is a well-respected “no nonsense” horseman south of the border, steadily increasing his profile since first taking out his training licence in 1991. A few lean early years as he searched for the right horses and owners took a turn for the better when Lee Freedman left a big set of stables at Caulfield in 1996.

Price jumped at the opportunity to take the prized training location and has never looked back, uncovering stars Samaready, Lankan Rupee and Tarzino in the process.

20 years on from that move it shouldn’t come as any surprise that it’s he’s the one giving Victorians their best chance of winning the race with a colt for 21 years. His ability to get natural speed and power from a young galloper is matched by his skill in selecting the horses with the potential to win.

Price backs himself to pick his bloodstock from the yearling sales and syndicates them direct to buyers. It was this route that saw 19 owners respond his radio advertising and pick up shares in the $100,000 EXTREME CHOICE, a colt now valued at between $10 million and $20 million to the group of owners.

FLYING ARTIE was found by Sydney breeder Paul Whelan, who bought the colt for $50,000 from the Goodwood Farm draft. Price’s reputation with youngsters saw the big strong galloper sent straight to the Caulfield stable.

KISS AND MAKE UP, ASTERN and TELPERION won’t be easy to beat tomorrow, but you can bet Gai and Godolphin would swap any of their gallopers for Price’s chargers if they had the chance.

Current Golden Slipper Market

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*Race Guide tips

  1. EXTREME CHOICE $3.2

  2. FLYING ARTIE $5*

  3. DEFCON $21

  4. KISS AND MAKE UP $8.5*

  5. ASTERN $11

  6. STAR TURN $41

  7. CAPITALIST $9

  8. GOOD STANDING $13

  9. TELPERION $31

  10. FRENCH FERN $126

  11. SCARLET RAIN $23

  12. CALLIOPE $18

  13. YANKEE ROSE $26

  14. SWEET SHERRY $101

  15. HONESTY PREVAILS $51

  16. QUICK FEET $126

  17. MOQUEEN $126




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