A wide gate cruelled the chances of General Salute in the Golden Rose, but if he can run up to his previous form, connections are optimistic he can bounce back at Randwick.
The colt was trapped three-deep and in the second half of the field in last months Group 1 feature and failed to beat a rival home.
Prior to that, he had been competitive in two strong form races, beaten a length by Libertad in the San Domenico Stakes (1100m) and three-quarters of a length by Cylinder in The Run To The Rose (1200m).
He drops in class and distance for Saturday’s Listed Brian Crowley Stakes (1200m) and off a four-week freshen-up and recent tick-over trial, co-trainer Gerald Ryan believes General Salute can rebound.
“I was happy with his first two runs, I was disappointed with the Golden Rose,” Ryan said.
“It wasn’t the 1400 (metres), he was wide all the way and facing the breeze, but he has freshened up good.
“He trialled OK at Hawkesbury and he worked very well on Saturday morning.
“He should be a show if he runs up to his first two runs back.”
Kerrin Mcevoy sticks with General Salute, who will jump from barrier seven after the withdrawal of topweight Barber, who will instead contest the Red Anchor Stakes (1200m) in Melbourne.
Ryan and co-trainer Sterling Alexiou also have Ballroom Bella in the Randwick race, but Ryan says they are in two-minds about whether to start her from gate 11.
“I’m not sure about running her from that barrier, she looks like she is going to have to do too much work,” he said.
“We might keep her for another day.”
Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott will be represented in the Brian Crowley by progressive three-year-old Keenan, who earned his place in the field with a dominant all-the-way win in midweek grade.
While conceding the Capitalist colt has to raise the bar again, Bott says there was depth to his last start performance.
“It was an excellent win and the times were great,” Bott said.
“It’s a bit of a jump in grade for him but he’s a horse in good form at the moment and we want to capitalise on that.”