It's also why he told a couple of employees, who were home sick with a cold and have been cleared by the doctor to return to work, to take a few extra days off just to be safe.

Dryden, 73, won't travel to Sydney with Handle The Truth on Saturday, despite his four-year-old gelding running in the group 3 Star Kingdom Stakes (1200 metres) at Rosehill.

He'll be watching from home with his foreman making the trip up the Hume Highway.

Handle The Truth ($7.50) is on the fourth line of betting behind $3.90-favourite Villami, while Fell Swoop - trained by fellow Canberran Matthew Dale - was a $21 shot.

Nick Olive's Maid Of Ore will run in the group 3 Neville Sellwood Stakes (2000m).

"If everybody does what they should be doing we've got a chance. All we do at the stables is do our stable work with as least people as we can and then we go home, and don't go out again," Dryden said.

"If you're going to get some clown who's going to go out on the town or going to the shops and sitting around all day at the mall you've got a risk coming up.

"I said to my staff it's business as usual, but we look at outside of business and what we do then to be extremely careful.

"I think everything will go fine and if we do get a positive coronavirus test in the industry ... that'll be the problem."

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Dryden hoped the racing industry could keep going for as long as possible. But, if it shuts down like a lot of industries have been forced to?

"We're out of business. I've got 15-17 staff, with permanents and casuals. They'll be without a job and I'll be on the dole queue myself," he said.

"I've got a business like anybody else. Whether I can start up again after it if we're closed down for any length of time I don't know."

He was confident his son of Star Witness would run a good race in the Star Kingdom - and felt Fell Swoop would need to be up to his best to beat his own charge.

Fell Swoop is running for the first time since the listed Chandler Macleod Stakes (1200m) in September.

Dryden said Villami was the favourite for a reason.

"He's going really well. He's stepping up to group 3 level now so it won't be easy, but I think he's going to be really competitive," he said.

"He's worked well, he's in with a light weight, there's a bit of rain around and he can handle the wet."

Dryden had planned to take Handle The Truth to Queensland for the group 1 Stradbroke Handicap (1400m), but not only are the borders closed but Racing Queensland has cancelled their winter carnival to use the money saved to build a warchest to survive the pandemic.

It means Handle The Truth will have a couple of more runs before going for a spell, with his next task the group 3 Hall Mark Stakes (1200m) at Randwick on April 18.

Then he'll be set to defend his crown for the $1.3 million Kosciuszko (1200m) in the spring.

"We'll got to the feature races that are around for a while and then I'll spell him - and everything being equal - come back and have another go at this coming Kosciuszko," Dryden said.

"That's the plan now ... we've got plenty of time to work on it all and hopefully things can level out in the next month or two and we can really set our plans in place."