Feet issues have troubled General Salute for much of his career, but the five-year-old put those concerns aside at Rosehill to secure a much-anticipated victory in the Listed Winter Stakes.
Co-trainer Gerald Ryan disclosed that the gelding has experienced foot problems almost from birth. He was sidelined for a year following his unplaced run in the 2024 Hawkesbury Guineas, only to encounter a new complication upon his return.
“He had an operation on his foot as a foal and we’ve had heaps of trouble with it,” Ryan said. “He kept getting quarter cracks. When he had that long break (after the Guineas), we cut all his foot away and turned him out to let it grow out. He came back, then after he ran at Randwick he chipped a joint and had to have surgery. He’s had problems all his life, so it was good to see the horse do that.”
Despite his physical battles, General Salute has been a profitable performer for his connections. While Saturday’s Winter Stakes (1400m) marked his first win in 15 months, he has finished in the top three in all but one of his last eight starts, proving competitive against notable gallopers like Autumn Glow in last year’s Theo Marks Stakes (1300m) and Headley Grange in the Alan Brown Stakes (1400m).
“He won nearly $400,000 last time in without winning a race,” Ryan noted.
General Salute’s ninth in the recent Civic Stakes (1400m) was an outlier, with Ryan admitting the horse was likely asked to bridge too large a distance gap from his 1100m first-up run.
“It was probably my fault for doing that. He should have had a shorter race in the meantime,” he conceded. “Because he was so fresh, we stuck the work into him more than we would normally do since then and, older horse, he’s copped it good.”
Under jockey Tim Clark, General Salute ($8.50) unwound a strong run along the inside to defeat Mchale ($10) by a length, with Midnight Dynamite ($4.80) filling the minor placings.
The stable will monitor the horse’s recovery before deciding on his potential participation in the Winter Challenge (1500m) at Rosehill on July 18. General Salute returned excellent value for punters at $8.50 according to leading Aussie betting sites, while Mchale and Midnight Dynamite also featured prominently in betting apps Australia markets.