When Keith Dryden and Louis Mihalyka first joined forces in the late 1980s, few could have predicted the enduring success story that would follow.
Nearly four decades on, the Dryden and Laurel Oak Bloodstock partnership has reached 260 victories, a milestone that was brought up by four quickfire wins at Forbes, Kembla Grange and Nowra in recent weeks.
It is a partnership that has stood the test of time, built on trust, friendship and a shared love of finding and developing horses that others might overlook.
“Back then, we (Laurel Oak) were public syndicators and got a lot of our current clients in the late 80s and early 90s, and a lot of them are still there with us and have been in with many horses over the years,” Laurel Oak Bloodstock’s Louis Mihalyka said.
“We built a good relationship with Keith, where he became our go-to man for horses that were not quite up to Sydney. He would either get them up and running and win races, or tell us they were no good, and we had plenty of winners early in the days.
“I wasn’t quite sure of the numbers, but Annie Dryden’s comprehensive list had all the runners – there’s been a lot of good moments, and it’s nice to know we have had 260 wins together.”
Dryden, now training alongside Libby Snowden, has long been the man Laurel Oak has often turned to, with their horses carrying the famous red, red and white silks. For his part, Dryden is simply grateful to have found a partner he can call a genuine friend.
“I’ve been training for him for a very long time; it’s been a great partnership and a very good friendship,” Dryden said.
“My father told me once, there are two good things you can get out of racing – a horse that can sprint and an owner that can stay. That combination has worked very well for us.”
Into The Night: The Horse That Started Something Special
Like many great partnerships, the Dryden and Laurel Oak Bloodstock story has been punctuated by horses that defined chapters along the way.
The first of those landmark horses was Into The Night (Rhythm x Marshow), whose arrival came about through a combination of trust, instinct and a willingness to back a hunch.
By 1999, the pair had a brief hiatus, with Laurel Oak having no horses in Dryden’s care for the first time in more than a decade. It did not last long.
“Keith called around and wanted to get the band back together and wanted to buy a better-quality horse at the Magic Millions sales,” Mihalyka recalled.
“We did the legwork at the sales, and we had about six to pick from, and Keith turned up on the night, and he picked it. $60,000 was the limit, and he agreed to pay $85,000, but we stuck with the horse, and he ended up being an outstanding horse.”
Outstanding was an understatement. Into The Night went on to win nine races, including Group and Listed wins at Flemington (2002 and 2003 Hilton Stakes), Rosehill Gardens (2002 Starlight Stakes) and Eagle Farm (2003 QTC Cup).
A multiple Group 1 placegetter who earned over $800,000 in 29 starts, he finished second in the Salinger Stakes, third in the Stradbroke and fourth in the Newmarket, cementing himself as one of Australia’s best sprinters of the early 2000s.
The journey even took connections to Hong Kong for the time-honoured Sprint at Sha Tin in late 2003 – an experience that left a lasting impression on Mihalyka.
“We made good friends from that horse, and going to Hong Kong was such a good experience, so much so that in 2005 we started doing Hong Kong tours and have since replicated the trip as best we could,” he said.
Dryden remembers Into The Night fondly, though he reserves the title of the partnership’s greatest horse for a later chapter.
“Into The Night was a fast horse – we took him over to Hong Kong, and he was something special,” Dryden said.
Handle The Truth: The Best of Them All
If Into The Night put the Dryden and Laurel Oak partnership on the map, Handle The Truth (Star Witness x Assertively) took it to another level entirely.
A son of Star Witness, Handle The Truth was not exactly a horse that screamed superstar from the outset. Laurel Oak had bred him themselves, and in the early stages, the interest from buyers was modest at best.
“He was typical of the horse we would breed and send to Keith,” Mihalyka said.
“He wasn’t fashionably bred and better suited to the country market. No one wanted him in April; we had sold about 15 per cent, and then he went through the process of being broken in and educated.
“Keith then called me one day in November of the same two-year-old season and said he was going to be a bloody good horse, and we sold the rest of him very quickly.”
That phone call proved to be one of the most significant moments in the partnership’s history.
Handle The Truth went on to win nine races and earn connections over $1.7 million in prizemoney, highlighted by victory in the 2019 Kosciuszko – a race he contested four times in total, also finishing fourth in 2020 and second in 2021.
A multiple Highway winner, 2021 National Sprint winner and a horse placed in multiple Group and Listed events, including the Starlight Stakes, Goulburn Cup and Wagga Town Plate, Handle The Truth was the definition of consistency.
For Mihalyka, the Kosciuszko journey in particular became something of a yearly pilgrimage.
“Racing him was massive, a huge thrill, and now we look forward to the race meeting every year,” he said.
“For the first two Everests, I was in Caulfield, but when Handle The Truth came along, we went to Sydney for the Kosciuszko, and we’ve stayed in Sydney every year and haven’t missed one. It’s a fantastic race day and only gets bigger and bigger.”
Dryden is equally effusive when reflecting on the gelding’s career.
“Handle The Truth is by far the best horse we have had together,” he said. “He raced in four Kosciuszko’s, won one, and was just a good sprinter.”
The Next Chapter
With 260 victories in the bank and a string of promising young horses on the horizon, the Dryden and Laurel Oak story is far from finished.
Horses such as Restless Spirit, Everido, Mighty Myrtle, Rockabye Roxy and Diamond Frost have all been racing well of late, and Dryden is excited about what is coming through the ranks.
“We have some lovely young horses coming through and hopefully out of those we get our next good one.”
For Dryden, the recipe for sustained success is simple, and after five wins to commence the 2026/27 season, the veteran trainer wants to continue with consistent success.
“You just want consistency in the stable,” he said.
“There’s nothing more depressing than getting three or four winners, then going two months without one. I just want the team bubbling along and getting winners consistently.”
Mihalyka, for his part, sums up the partnership with a line that has become something of a motto among Laurel Oak’s ownership group.
“It’s ‘In Keith we trust’ – a line that came about through one of our owners after a string of winners,” Mihalyka laughed.
“We’ve had a lot of success, but he’s a good guy, and doesn’t declare his horses will win, but you can always tell when he delivers a message whether a horse is a good chance.”
After nearly four decades, 260 winners and two horses that will live long in the memory, that trust has never looked better placed.
Words: Jeff Hanson
Image: Keith Dryden and Louis Mihalyka after Handle The Truth’s win in the 2019 Kosciuszko. Image: Bradley Photos.