Feet problems have plagued General Salute throughout his career, but the horse has put his best hoof forward at Rosehill to land an overdue win in the Listed Winter Stakes.
Co-trainer Gerald Ryan revealed the five-year-old had suffered issues almost from birth and spent a year on the sidelines following his unplaced effort in the 2024 Hawkesbury Guineas, only to return and be beset by a separate problem.
“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 issues, General Salute has been a wonderful money-spinner for connections.
While Saturday’s Winter Stakes (1400m) was the horse’s first win in 15 months, he has only missed a top-three finish once in his past eight starts and has been competitive against the likes of 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 said.
General Salute’s last-start ninth in the Civic Stakes (1400m) was the only recent blot to his copybook, Ryan conceding the horse stepped up too quickly in distance from the 1100m of his first-up run.
“It was probably my fault for doing that. He should have had a shorter race in the meantime,” he said.
“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.”
Ridden by Tim Clark, General Salute ($8.50) finished resolutely along the inside to defeat Mchale ($10) by a length with Midnight Dynamite ($4.80) third.
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.
The stable will see how he comes through the win before deciding if General Salute presses on to the Winter Challenge (1500m) at Rosehill on July 18.
