Guest Suite stumbled at the break and never got involved, finishing a distant eighth Jan. 13 in the Louisiana Stakes at Fair Grounds. Guest Suite had tried turf in the Jefferson Cup in September at Churchill, his first start since May, but back on dirt in the Louisiana, he might've made inroads into the older-horse dirt-route stakes division this winter. Instead, it was back to the drawing board for Guest Suite, who was a 3-year-old of some promise at this point a year ago.

Guest Suite got another break, was dropped back to allowance competition in Sunday's featured seventh race, and this time was right on target for trainer Neil Howard. Traveling sweetly in the pocket under Brian Hernandez Jr., Guest Suite got a favorable trip as Jess I Am went up before the half-mile pole to keep Shut the Box from stealing off to an easy lead. As those two jabbed at one another in upper stretch, Hernandez switched his mount outside them and Guest Suite quickly mowed them down. He ran 1 1/6 miles on a track recently upgraded from muddy to good in 1:43.50 and paid $15.60 to win. The victory was his first since the Lecomte Stakes in January 2017, and while Guest Suite doesn't appear to have star potential, he might well work himself back into graded-stakes competition of some sort with continued progress.