Ryan aiming to give General Salute an easier trip after rare failure

Even before General Salute drew gate one on Wednesday, trainer Gerald Ryan declared that the five-year-old would be ridden quieter in the listed Winter Stakes (1400m) after a last-start failure.

Now the Rosehill trainer has his fingers crossed the bias towards on-pace runners will be gone on his home track on Saturday.

General Salute faded to finish four-and-a-half lengths ninth in the listed Civic Stakes (1400m) last start at Randwick two weeks ago after beginning well and racing in third under Tim Clark.

The disappointing run followed a fast-finishing second in the 1100m Bob Charley AO Stakes when resuming from time out following surgery to remove a bone chip from his near fore fetlock.

The Civic Stakes run was a rare poor performance from General Salute, which had finished top three in his previous eight starts.

Ryan said the gelding had come through the run well and had excuses.

“He did too much early and because he began so well, and the way the track was playing, Tim took advantage of it, but I don’t think it was in the horse’s best interest,” Ryan said.

“He will be ridden quieter on Saturday, no matter where he draws.

“You could nearly say it was the worst run in his life, but there were circumstances to that.”

Rosehill was a heavy 8 on Thursday, but there was a mostly clear forecast into Saturday. With the rail out six metres last week, runners forward and near the rail thrived. The rail is back to just one metre this Saturday, and Ryan hoped that would give General Salute a chance to finish from further back.

“He likes it soft, but whether it’s like last Saturday, and he gets back in the race, well, you’ve got no hope, because it was very biased to the front-runners last Saturday and up and in on the fence,” he said.

Ryan and co-trainer Sterling Alexiou have two chances in race five, a 1300m benchmark 72 handicap for three-year-olds.

Cheeky Smirk ($12) heads into the race off a hat-trick of wins, including in the same grade and distance last start. The addition of three-kilogram claiming apprentice Will Stanley keeps Cheeky Smirk at the same weight after a penalty that surprised Ryan.

“He’s honest and he’s come a long in a short time,” Ryan said.

“He got hammered for winning that race. He went up three kilos for winning a race like that, and the horse that ran fourth [Hello Captain] and arguably should have won, didn’t go up any.

“But that’s benchmark racing for you. It’s all someone opinion.”

Chris Waller-trained Hello Captain was a $1.95 favourite for the rematch after its luckless run. Two-kilogram claiming apprentice Siena Grima brings Hello Captain back to 58.5kg.

Ryan said Sequista ($8.50) would “only run with a good barrier and on better than a heavy track”.

“It just gets no luck,” he said.

“It should have run much better at Scone first up then she had no luck at Eagle Farm, then she was on the worst part of the track and drew the wrong barrier the other day.”