Image – Bradley Photos.
All good things come to an end, and for champion galloper Handle The Truth, the curtain will come down on his glittering career when he steps out in next Saturday’s $200,000 Canberra Community Chest (1400m).
The Keith Dryden-trained eight-year-old was locked in as the top weight in tomorrow’s $100,000 Snake Gully Cup, but after drawing gate ten, connections decided to scratch and focus on his Canberra swan song.
“That will be his last race unless he was to come out and win by ten lengths,” Dryden laughed.
“The plan is to retire him, and the owners are coming along to make a day of it, and they’ll stay the night, and we’ll go out to dinner to celebrate his career.”
The Star Witness gelding out of Assertively has been country racing’s poster boy since winning three of his first five starts in 2018.
A two-time Highway Handicap winner, Handle The Truth rose through the ranks to win at Royal Randwick, Rosehill Gardens, and Canterbury before his greatest triumph in 2019 when taking out The Kosciuszko.
A $1.3 million race at the time, Nash Rawiller was in the saddle when the then four-year-old boulted in to beat the likes of Victorem, Bobbing, Noble Boy, Don’t Give A Dam, and Belflyer.
With his name already etched in the country racing history books, Handle The Truth would finish fourth to It’s Me in the 2020 Kosciuszko before he was beaten a half-head by Art Cadeau in the 2021 Kosciuszko.
In 2022, a comedy of errors cost him any real chance of winning as he flashed late to finish ninth to Front Page.
During his career, he competed and placed in Group and Listed company and finished second in the 2019 Goulburn Cup and third in the 2020 edition.
The Canberra galloper won the National Sprint in 2021 before finishing second to Another One in the 2022 edition.
He has started 47 times for nine wins and 13 placings, earning connections over $1.7 million in prize money.
“He’s been a fantastic horse,” Dryden said.
“He has earned $1.7 million in prize money, which is good for a county-trained horse; you won’t see much better.
“The Kosciuszko was a real highlight, and he was consistent in all of them, and that National Sprint was one of his great wins.
Image – Bradley Photos.
“He sat back off them, really let go coming home, and finished off in 33 seconds.
“It wasn’t his ideal distance then, but on his home track, there was a good crowd and a great reception for him on that day.”
Barrier draws cruelled Handle The Truth’s chances late in his career, and Dryden admitted his old stager was a little longer in the tooth and probably not as sharp as he once was.
“The plan all along was to retire him on his home track and then find him a nice home,” Dryden said.
“He’s been a great horse, and he is still in racing condition, and we only hope he can race well at his last start and finish off on a good note.
“We could have raced on with him, but we want to retire him in good condition.
“The thing is, I don’t think he is quite as good as he used to be, and we don’t want to degrade his record and send him around to get beat.”
It will be a sad moment for connections, and Dryden doesn’t think it will be the same when he goes to work and Handle The Truth’s box is empty.
“We broke him in, and he has been in that stable since he was a young horse,” Dryden said.
“He’s been in the same box, and for the last six years, he has occupied the second box from my office, and it will look a bit different, that’s for sure.”
It’s set to be an emotional day for the stable at Canberra but win, lose, or draw, racing fans all over the country will get a chance to send off one of the real champions of country racing.
