General Salute presents with some of the most competitive recent form of any horse participating at Rosehill on Saturday, and jockey Tim Clark is optimistic that the gelding only needs to reproduce those performances to secure the feature sprint race.
The gelding secured the runner-up position behind the outstanding mare Autumn Glow in last year’s Theo Marks Stakes (1300m). He followed this achievement with two successive placings behind Group 1 performers Headley Grange and Transatlantic in the Alan Brown Stakes (1400m) and the Five Diamonds Prelude (1500m), respectively.
“There are any of three or four runs in the spring which, if he replicated, he’d win the race on Saturday. Simple as that,” Clark commented.
Bookmakers and punters might express caution after General Salute faded to a midfield finish in the Civic Stakes (1400m) at his last start. This performance came after an unlucky second place to the quick Wanaruah in the Bob Charley AO Stakes (1100m) when resuming.
However, Clark feels the horse had justifiable excuses and predicts he will perform much better in the Listed Winter Stakes (1400m) this Saturday.
“He was going from 1100 to 1400 . . . and I ended up being a bit close to what turned out to be a really fast speed. It just gassed him a little bit late,” Clark elaborated. “Now he’s had that run over 1400 under his belt, he will be a lot better for it.”
“A bit of cut in the track won’t hurt, and he’s drawn one, so he’s going to have a much more economical run throughout.”
General Salute is set to benefit from a 3-1/2 kilo weight advantage over Midnight Dynamite. With the advantage of a recent 1400m run, Clark anticipates his mount will be significantly better prepared for what is expected to be another strongly run contest, due to the presence of Whinchat and Cool Jakey, who finished first and second in transit last start.
“The two horses who set the speed are there again, so they’re going to go quick,” Clark said. “But now he’s had that run under his belt over 1400, he’s going to be better for it and able to cope with that type of pressure. He did race a little bit keenly the other day, but it’s a far better set-up for him on Saturday.”
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