Trainer Mick Price is hopeful that enigmatic gelding General Offer can do everything right and give a good account of himself in the Equiano Speed Yearlings Heat 5 (1400m) at Caulfield tomorrow.
Dale Smith will partner General Offer in the Equiano Speed Yearlings Heat 5 at Caulfield tomorrow. Photo by: Race Horse Photos Australia
General Offer has always shown plenty of ability, recording five wins from 23 starts, but has had a great deal of problems jumping out of the barrier cleanly and became badly unbalanced at the start of the Chanteclair Handicap (1420m) at Flemington on December 21.
Price told Racing Ahead this morning that General Offer had jumped from the gates well with a barrier blanket on in a jump out last week and he is hopeful that the gear change will help the General Nediym gelding this weekend.
“He can do a few big things wrong; he clobbered four horses from the jump the other day,” Price said.
“We put him in the barrier with a barrier blanket on and he jumped clean.
“He is a difficult horse to catch but certainly I am not confident about his winning chances because of his temperament.
“He is there, he is fit and well and he will be presented with the blanket.
“I am sure that he will jump and do everything right.
“There will be pace on in the race and I think that he can run in the first three or four.”
General Offer joined the stable of Price in 2012 and has recorded four wins, included the Chris Vella Birthday Handicap and Distinctive Homes Handicap in Adelaide, but the leading trainer admits that the five-year-old has been frustrating to deal with.
Price has tried a few different measures to help General Offer settle in his races and believes that the gelding has improved the way that he handles racing in the last six months.
“He has been a bit of a difficult horse,” Price said.
“We have sent him to dressage training a couple of times this prep just to keep his head right.
“He is inconsistent; he can race well and do everything right.
“He is not too bad in a race now, he still has his quirks, but I think that if he does everything right he can give a good account of himself but he is a tricky bugger.”
General Offer is currently rated an outside winning chance in Equiano Speed Yearlings Heat 5 betting markets; with Infinite Energy ($4.40) a narrow favourite from Free Of Doubt ($4.80) and Floatmyboat ($5).
