Autumn carnival plans have been put on hold for Hellbound after a disappointing debut performance at Caulfield.

Trainer Mick Price said the well-fancied two-year-old had mucus in the trachea following his fading sixth in the Joe Brown Plate (1100m) on Saturday.

Price was confident going into the race and had aspirations the colt would get to the Blue Diamond Stakes at Caulfield in late February.

"He scoped up with thick tracheal mucus," Price said.

"It's annoying. He's a two-year-old baby. He'll have some antibiotics. He'll have a freshen and get his head down on green grass."

Price said tracheal mucus was performance restricting and noted Hellbound was showing no outward signs of any problems before Saturday's race.

He said the colt had no coughing and there was no discharge but he knew something was amiss when he failed to finish the race off after racing in second spot to the home turn.

"I think racing brings it out," Price said.

"My horses get scoped often enough.

"Tuesday he was totally clean and then Saturday, you make an idiot out of yourself.

"Humble pie, it's the staple diet of a trainer."

Price will keep an eye on Hellbound and if he recovers well in the next couple of weeks he may decide to press ahead with Blue Diamond plans.

He said his thoughts before Saturday's race were to freshen the colt for the Blue Diamond Prelude on February 13 before tackling the Blue Diamond two weeks later.

"He's a very sound horse, not shin sore," Price said.

"If he blooms in the next couple of weeks we'll look at him and maybe give him another chance."

The colt is by More Than Ready out of Living Hell, a daughter of 1998 Melbourne Cup winner Jezabeel.