![The Keith Dryden-trained Handle The Truth will retire in November. Picture by Karleen Minney The Keith Dryden-trained Handle The Truth will retire in November. Picture by Karleen Minney](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/reqbnGrLXyZFax2TwSi3Na/9ab07cb9-70ef-4008-8289-8f3138f9b678.jpg/r0_0_5379_3035_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
A couple more runs and he'll be done. After a stellar career that's amassed more than $1.7 million in prizemoney, Handle The Truth will retire in November.
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Canberra trainer Keith Dryden said his eight-year-old warhorse will have a run in Sydney and then fittingly bow out on his home track, Thoroughbred Park, during the Spring Carnival.
The son of Star Witness has won the $1.3 million Kosciuszko (1200 metres) and the listed National Sprint (1400m) - as well as finishing second in both of those races.
He's also placed in the group 3 Concorde Stakes, the Wagga Town Plate and the Goulburn Cup.
Dryden hoped to send him out on a high in what's a yet-to-be-announced feature race at Canberra - his home track where he ran his first barrier trial, before making his race debut at Wagga Wagga in 2018.
"He's going to have another run in Sydney - I'm just giving him a bit of easy time around the stables," he told The Canberra Times.
"And then there's a big race here in November and that'll be his swansong - he'll retire after that.
"He's going to go out in that race, he's been great for Canberra racing so we decided he'd finish up in Canberra where he started."
Dryden has a raft of runners at Canberra's Friday meet, including Bringbackthebears in the Stayers Cup (1900m) and two in the Sprinters Cup (1206m) - Trooper Knuckle and Harderthantherest.
Bringbackthebears could be a scratching after drawing barrier nine, with Dryden set to survey the race calendar in search of other suitable races after running a strong second in his last start at Canberra.
Harderthantherest is having her first run back from a spell.
He saw Trooper Knuckle as his best shot in the two feature races on the final day of racing on the synthetic track before it returned to the grass in a fortnight.
Dryden liked the initiatives of the Stayers and Sprinters cups, both of which were worth $35,000, praising the club for trying new things.
It's hoped the extra prize money would help attract interest and runners to Canberra Racing, while also being a financial boost for trainers and owners.
Canberra Racing's under pressure to keep up with Racing NSW's prize money - which has constantly increased due to the point-of-consumption tax.
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While the ACT government has the highest PoC tax in Australia, none of that money's returned to the racing industry - in stark contrast to every other state and territory where it's been introduced.
"[Trooper Knuckle will] have his work cut out too [from barrier nine]. He'll be definitely going around ... he'll need some luck from there," Dryden said.
"I thought it was a nice run at Moruya the other day when he ran fifth - he kind of loomed up and never quite got a chance to finish it off.
"If he gets a bit of luck in running he's a definite each-way chance."
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