![General Salute wins the Bill Ritchie Handicap at Randwick but will bypass his ballot-free opportunity in the Epsom Handicap. [Bradley Photos]](https://betsy.b-cdn.net/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/2362511.jpg)
General Salute is paying the price for his consistency with the handicappers, but co-trainer Gerald Ryan says the gelding has never looked better ahead of his tilt at the $1 million The Hunter at Newcastle.
A dual Group 3 winner, General Salute has 59kg, two kilos less than topweight Pericles, who has a Group 1 on his resume and five Group 2s.
“The weights, they haven’t missed him,” Ryan said.
“He’s got a benchmark rating of 111 and he’s only won a Group Three race. He hasn’t even won a Group Two.
“With these benchmarks, there’s five benchmark points between him and Pericles, and I know it’s a quality handicap, but that’s supposed to be two-and-a-half kilos difference, and there’s only two.
“Then when you look at the other horses that are supposed to be two-and-a-half kilos less than us, they are.
“(But) he looks well, probably the best I’ve seen him look. Big, strong. He’s going really well.”
A first-up winner of the Bill Ritchie Handicap (1400m), General Salute stuck to his guns when fifth in the Alan Brown Stakes (1400m) on October 10, earning himself a short farm stay before returning to the stable to prepare for Saturday’s $1 million The Hunter (1300m).
It’s a routine Ryan and training partner Sterling Alexiou have been utilising with the horse for some time, and with just two unplaced performances from General Salute’s past 13 starts, it has been effective.
“We always space his runs,” Ryan said.
“After he had his last start we sent him to the farm and the water walker for ten days, which we’ve done a few times, and aimed to bring him back for this race fresh-up.
“That’s why he’s been able to have an extended program. He gets lots of little holidays.”
Tim Clark will partner General Salute from barrier 10 in the full field of 16 plus six emergencies.
The race is set to be the career swansong for nine-year-old warhorse Coal Crusher, who has won The Hunter twice in 2023 and 2025, and will be competing at the meeting for the fifth year in succession.
