Dashing Slay will return to the track for the first time this year when she lines up in Saturday night’s Group 1 Sportsbet Temlee at The Meadows.

The star sprinter’s most recent start came in the Sportsbet Melbourne Cup, where she finished second behind fellow Sportsbet Temlee contender Canya Mayhem, who heads into tomorrow’s race as favourite after drawing box one.

Dashing Slay’s break wasn’t injury-related, with trainer Kayla Cottrell opting instead for a freshen-up ahead of what she hopes will be a big Sportsbet Australian Cup Carnival campaign.

“Slay has been trialling super. I can’t fault her at the moment and she’s ticking all the boxes heading into Saturday night – she’s in great order,” Cottrell said.

Dashing Slay will jump from box seven in the Sportsbet Temlee.

“It’s not the nicest box to have in a Group 1, but she does like to use the track, which should play in her favour,” Cottrell said.

“It’s not ideal having Sharapova Star drawn outside us but Slay will give her all as always.”

Sharapova Star shapes as the key speed influence, having led in 36 of her 58 career starts and finding the front in each of her past 10 races.

She recently stopped the clock in a blistering 4.97 seconds to the first mark at The Meadows – almost a length quicker than anything else in the Sportsbet Temlee field this year.

The Group 1 Sportsbet Zoom Top shares top billing on a stacked program, and Cottrell could be eyeing a feature-race double if Fade To Black can claim the staying feature.

Fade To Black comes into the race off a career-best performance in Queensland, where he defeated staying star Without A Trace to win the Group 1 Gold Cup (710m) in track record time. He will jump from box eight in race eight at 9:02pm.

Despite that result, punters remain keen on Without A Trace as she returns to the scene of her dominant Group 1 Topgun Stayers win, where Fade To Black finished fourth.

Adding further depth to the night, The Meadows will also host eight heats of the Group 1 Australian Cup – the opening round of the prestigious three-week series that showcases Australia’s best sprinters.