Gerald Ryan has been all over the place during the start of 2012 with a host of two year old runners competing right across the east coast.

As the Sydney carnival starts to get underway though his focus is shifting towards his three year old crop and most importantly Hot Snitzel.

Himself a real juvenile talent, Hot Snitzel has become one of the flagship horses for the Ryan stable.

He packs plenty of early toe and on a number of occasions has fought to the line when he was probably entitled to pack it in.

Hot Snitzel will kick off his autumn in the Royal Sovereign Stakes on the 18th and Ryan is excited to see just where he slots in on the pecking order.

“I reckon it’s a good group of three year olds this crop, you’ve got the really good ones at the top and then this group with Hot Snitzel not far behind them,” he said.

“All they need to do is have improved from the spring and they’ll be right there with them.”

Ryan is hoping Hot Snitzel can be one of them and to the eye he’s certainly come on.

“He has strengthened up a lot form the spring,” he said.

Hot Snitzel has been a real money earner for the stable and barely a start has gone by where he hasn’t come home with something.

“At the end of the two year old days he’d had nine starts and the only time he didn’t collect stakes money was in the Golden Slipper,” he said.

After a big Brisbane campaign where he fell just short in the Group 1 TJ Smith Hot Snitzel was given a pretty easy time of it in the spring.

“Was always the plan to only give him two runs in the spring, won first up at Randwick and then finished sixth in the Coolmore,” he said.

“The way he pulled up after the Coolmore I might have left him a run short.”

Hot Snitzel will go through his final preparations in the coming weeks and Ryan says he’ll be presented in a position to win first up.

“He’ll trial on Tuesday here at Rosehill…we’ve always only given him one trial and he seems to go well,” he said.

“He appears to have come up really good and his two serous gallops so far have been good.

“I think he’s forward enough.”