Price looks for Miss Maren to boost a moderate spring

By Brians Newsflash

SEVERAL of Melbourne's leading trainers are licking their wounds after a less-than-successful spring carnival and while Mick Price counts himself among that number, the Caulfield trainer at least enjoyed some satisfying moments, reports The Age.It says: The resounding win by Heart Of Dreams in the group 1 Underwood Stakes provided Price with his main highlight, but the surprising group 1 weight-for-age placings in New Zealand and at Flemington from his mare Miss Maren were possibly his most grat

It says: The resounding win by Heart Of Dreams in the group 1 Underwood Stakes provided Price with his main highlight, but the surprising group 1 weight-for-age placings in New Zealand and at Flemington from his mare Miss Maren were possibly his most gratifying achievements.

''To see her run so well to be placed in the Kelt Capital [Stakes] in New Zealand and then follow that up with a second placing in the Mackinnon [Stakes] was really pleasing,'' Price said yesterday. ''Those efforts are going to stand out on her page as a broodmare in the future and that's what you try to achieve with mares like her. You try and make them broodmares for their owners and she looks pretty good on paper now.''

Price said he did not approach the spring carnival with too many expectations and was prepared to sit on the sidelines when races such as the Caulfield Guineas, Thousand Guineas, VRC Oaks, Victoria Derby and the Caulfield and Melbourne cups were run. ''We tried to get a few to those races but ultimately they did not make it. It wasn't for a lack of trying,'' he said. ''Heart Of Dreams won his group 1 but could not produce in the Cox Plate. We never had huge expectations of the spring so when a horse like Miss Maren performs so well in those group 1 races, it's great.''

Price lost his proven group 1 performer Pompeii Ruler early in the spring to a rolled ankle while last spring's Thousand Guineas winner Gallica was also spelled with bone chips.

Tomorrow at Betfair Park, Price is looking to end the carnival on a high note and also add some more black type to the Stravinsky mare's page when he lines Miss Maren up in the $350,000 group 2 Sandown Classic. (www.theage.com.au)