General Salute to ramp up spring assault in Missile
Ryan and Alexiou are yet to have a runner for the 2025/26 campaign as the bulk of their team of spring contenders edge closer to their racing returns in the coming weeks.
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General Salute will be the first of their spring arsenal to line-up – and could potentially be the training partnership's first runner of the new campaign.
The stakes-winning gelding is returning from a brief freshen-up after working home strongly for third in the Group 3 W J Healy Stakes (1200m) at Eagle Farm on June 28.
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The state of the Randwick track has several stables weighing up giving their Missile Stakes contenders a chance on a likely heavy surface in Sydney with race favourite Private Eye ($2.60) and Encap ($19) both question marks.
But Ryan and co-trainer Sterling Alexiou are prepared to give General Salute his chance despite the son of Russian Revolution never being exposed to heavy ground.
General Salute has proven to be adept in soft going and was a winner of the Group 3 Star Kingdom Stakes (1200m) at Rosehill Gardens on a soft 7 earlier this year.
'The three wins have been on soft ground and he has never been on heavy but his half-brother Brutality that Joe Pride trained was a pretty good horse on heavy tracks I think,' Ryan said.
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'General Salute has done well. He had two weeks down the water walker and a freshen-up after his last run in Queensland and has come back well.
Trainer Gerald Ryan is confident General Salute is ready to run a race in Saturday's Missile Stakes Picture:'He basically hasn't been out of work.'
Tim Clark partnered General Salute, a $3.80 second elect, last start in Brisbane and will continue his association with the gelding in the Missile.
Ryan is hopeful Clark is able to take advantage of a better draw this time around with General Salute drawn in the inside.
'The last three starts he has gone back in his races because he has drawn wide,' Ryan said.
'I know when Tyler Schiller won on him he said 'if he ever draws inside of four, he will race a lot handier' and Tim Clark said the same in Queensland.
'He drew wide and jumped nearly a neck in front but couldn't keep going forward that day so he went back on him.
'From the barrier he will probably land a lot closer and there doesn't look to be brilliant speed in the race.'
Ryan and Alexiou are keen to strike early in the spring with a string of sprint stakes assignments, including the Group 3 $250,000 Show County Quality on August 23, on the menu for General Salute if he can perform on Saturday.
'That race (Group 3 Show County) and the 1300m in the Theo Marks (on September 13) would be his three races and then we will give him a breather,' Ryan said.
'He had foot problems as a young horse and that's why he had that long time off.
'We want to shy away running him on firmer tracks.'
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Promising mare Fleeting Spirit could make her return in the Petaluma Benchmark 78 Handicap (1200m).
Tyler Schiller rides General Salute to win the Star Kingdom Stakes at Rosehill in April Picture:The daughter of Per Incanto has been off the scene for the past 136 days after heading for a let-up following her maiden victory at Randwick Kensington in March.
Ryan has better races in store for Fleeting Spirit but would be reluctant to run the four-year-old if conditions don't improve.
'We will decide on the day or just beforehand and see what race we get,' Ryan said.
'She is a nice mare and has improved. I think there is a stakes race in there somewhere one day and there is plenty of them coming up.
'We will just go back to a Benchmark race in a couple of weeks' time if we don't run her there on Saturday first-up.'
Fleeting Spirit is a half-sister to this year's Stradbroke Handicap winner War Machine with the classy pair sharing the same mother Caserta.
Fleeting Spirit is a $15 chance to return a winner with Kerrin McEvoy aboard.
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