Leading trainer Keith Dryden remains upbeat for Saturday's inaugural TAB Highway Handicap with promising filly Flash In The Dark set to take her place.
An impressive winner at Canberra first up, the daughter of Northern Meteor brought up her second win from three starts when overcoming a wide run throughout.
One of 15 engaged in Saturday's inaugural TAB Highway Handicap, Flash In The Dark has drawn favourably on the inside, a much welcomed change of luck.
“She’s drawn in the car park for her only three runs,” Dryden said.“At least she’s drawn a decent barrier on Saturday, she should get a nicer run from there without having to work too hard to put herself into the race.
“She’s a nice filly on the improve.”Using Timeform ratings, Flash In The Dark wasn't quite rated up to her best last start, which bodes well for her chances on Saturday.
Admitting she doesn't take a lot of work to keep her ticking over, Dryden said he is happy with how she is shaping up leading into the weekend.“I’ve been pretty happy with her,” Dryden said.
“She worked along good with a partner this week and had the better of him, I don’t work her against the clock too often but she’s done well.“She’s only lightly framed and still a bit immature yet, she’s a filly you don’t have to work hard to keep the weight off.
“She’ll run well Saturday and won’t disgrace herself.”Enjoying a real purple patch of form, Dryden took out last season's Canberra Racing Clubs Trainers' Premiership and currently sits second, one win behind astute trainer Matthew Dale.
Dryden is currently striking at 22 per cent and has run a POT of +19.6 per cent.On Friday he will be looking to continue that trend saddling up seven runners at Thoroughbred Park, two of which are last start winners - Stratum's Siren and Atlantic Sentinel.
"I put a business plan in place about five or six years ago to keep upgrading our stock," Dryden said."I think we are really starting to show the benefits of that now.
"Everything seems to be going well at the moment and we are having a good run."
