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The potential has always been there and it seems the decision to geld General Salute is going to pay off, certainly on the evidence of his strong second-up Group 3 win at Rosehill.

Back in his three-year-old spring you could see the talent was there as he finished close up in two Golden Rose lead ups and ended that campaign with a stakes placing but he didn’t come back as expected in the autumn, his first prep as a gelding, and was subsequently spelled.

An extended break clearly has done him a world of good and he backed up his first-up win at Kembla Grange with a victory in the Group 3 Star Kingdom Stakes (1200m) that was as good from a time perspective as it looked on paper.

Punter’s Intelligence showed the four-year-old clocked the meeting’s fastest last 600m of 34.05 and last 200m of 11.31 as he swept home from the back.

Runner-up Dragonstone ran a smart 34.24 for his last 600m, clearly the second quickest, and was just unlucky to bump into an outstanding performance from a winner still on the way up.

Where Gerald Ryan and Sterling Alexiou point him next will be interesting but now he’s realising the early promise and putting it together it’d be no surprise if he continued on his winning way in something a bit stronger.

You’d have to say all honours to Treasurethe Moment as she made it seven straight and two Group 1s in the Vinery Stud Stakes (2000m).

While she didn’t run the fastest split in any part of the race she had to do a lot of the work chasing the leader and only two other fillies recorded faster last 600m splits than her 36.14.

They were runner-up Benagil, who recorded the fastest last 600m of 35.91, and fourth placed Verona Rose (35.91).

The latter might emerge as something of a threat out to the 2400m of the ATC Oaks, she was back last and hit the line full of running in 12.09 for her last 200m which was a length quicker than anything else.

On face value it appeared Ceolwulf’s win in the Neville Sellwood, also over 2000m, was a scrambling one but he’s carried 59.5kg sitting on pace and still ran the third fastest last 600m of 34.67 in what was a sprint home.

The Sellwood stopped the clock four lengths slower than the fillies in the Vinery and some eight lengths slower than the three-year-olds in the Tulloch.

Our Gold Hope recorded the fastest last 600m of 34.31 as she went down in a close three way go, with Touristic (34.61) just to her outside, and if this wasn’t the one that got away then she’ll be a coming winner in something similar.

With a number of the three-year-olds backing up from the Tulloch into the ATC Australian Derby on Saturday it’s worth noting the placegetters were particularly eye-catching as they both just missed behind Pocketing.

Firm Agreement made his run along the inside and ran 35.72 which was a length faster than the next best, third placed, King Of Thunder (35.89) who had to go around them.

The former ran identical 400m-200m and last 200m of 11.97 while the latter ran the fastest 400m-200m (11.91) and was 0.07 slower for his final 200m than the runner-up. Both look on target to run well.

A couple more to note:

Pireaus can be hard to catch at times but he smashed the line off a freshen up in the Midway (1300m) running 34.70 for his last 600m, one second or six lengths faster than the next best, as he charged into second place from a clear last.

Similarly, both Ducasse (35.43) and Encap (35.38) were significantly quicker home from well back in the field in the Doncaster Prelude (1500m) as they ran into third and fourth respectively.

Fastest last 600m: General Salute 34.05

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