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By Ray Hickson

An impressive performance from smart galloper General Salute at Rosehill on Saturday will likely earn him a shot at the spring’s biggest Group 1 handicap.

Trainer Gerald Ryan

Co-trainer Gerald Ryan said the Epsom Handicap is pencilled in for the five-year-old if he can show his class by overcoming a couple of hurdles in the Listed $200,000 Toyota Forklifts Winter Challenge (1500m).

Though General Salute hasn’t been tried at a mile or at the top level in his 18 starts to date it’s Ryan’s view that if he can win under 60.5kg he has the depth of form from last spring to earn that chance.

“We’ll find out carrying this weight at the end of 1500m if he’s worth having a throw at an Epsom with him,’’ Ryan said.

“We thought we’d give him a freshen up and give him two runs leading into it, that’s the plan.

“We won’t go deep into the spring because his form on wet tracks is so much better.”

General Salute’s only attempt at 1500m saw him run second to Transatlantic in the Five Diamonds Prelude at the end of a spring campaign where he held his own against a number of Group 1 performers.

It was also the race in which he chipped a joint, forcing him onto the sidelines in the autumn.

Prior to that he’d run third to Lazzura in a Group 3, second to Autumn Glow at Group 2 level and third behind Headley Grange and Gringotts in the Alan Brown (now a Group 2 race).

Everything worked out perfectly for General Salute, $4.80 with TAB on Thursday, when he raced away with the Winter Stakes two weeks ago and Ryan said he’ll be relying on some luck and a Nash Rawiller gem to match the "Tim Clark special" from last start.

“This is a bit harder, a more awkward barrier with 60.5kg but he has that because he’s earned it,’’ he said.

"He was terrific the other day off a soft draw, a Tim Clark special.

“I’d say he’ll be halfway back and hopefully he can get in better than three wide but it depends on how the track is playing.”

It’s been 20 months since Franz Josef’s last racetrack appearance and Ryan, who co-trains with Sterling Alexiou, said he’s had a strong grounding for his return.

The chestnut sustained a tendon injury at his last start back in November 2024.

Ryan said it’s hard to confidently predict what the gelding will do in the Racing And Sports Handicap (1300m) but he’s had the right build up to be competitive.

“He had a long time of rehabilitation but he didn’t sit in the paddock doing nothing, he was a month in and a month out all the time,’’ Ryan said.

“He came back in January and he had two trials in March, after his second trial he pulled a muscle in his hind quarters and we had to back off.

General Salute wins the Winter Stakes

“All his trials since he came back have been good, I wouldn’t like to see it too heavy first-up after 88 weeks but he’s had a great foundation.”

Gerald Ryan on Sequista (race 6): “She wants a firmer track and perhaps 1300m was a step too far last start. If she can get that firmer track back against her own sex she can run well.”

All the fields, form and replays for Saturday’s Rosehill meeting