Woodbine: Dresden Row looks to defend Durham Cup crown

Multiple graded-stakes victor and Sovereign Award winner Dresden Row faces seven foes as he looks to defend his crown in Saturday’s Grade 3 Durham Cup, a 1 1/16-mile main track test for 3-year-olds and up. 

Crowned Canada’s champion 3-year-old male of 2024, Dresden Row arrives at his eighth consecutive stakes engagement off a runner-up effort in the Seagram Cup (G3), also a 1 1/16-mile main track event for 3-year-olds and up, on Aug. 2.

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“He didn’t get the greatest trip,” said Lorne Richards, who trains for Keith Johns’ True North Stable and Bloom Racing Stable's Jeffrey Bloom. “He got pinned in along the rail and by the time he got going, it was a bit too late.”

Dresden Row was slated to race on King’s Plate Day, Aug. 16, but was scratched.

“I had him in to run, but he got sick,” Richards said. “It came on really quick. We had to try four different antibiotics on him. We never figured out it was. The best guess was maybe it was an abscess that burst, but he really spiked a big-time temperature.

“He was great on Friday morning, but on Friday afternoon, Kelsey (Mayhew-Munger, assistant trainer) called me and said he didn’t finish up his feed. So we scratched him. The next morning, at 3, Kelsey called and said he had a 104.4 temperature. It took a good 10 days at least to get him back on track. He seems good now.”

Dresden Row has never finished outside the top three, crafting a 12: 5-4-3 mark to go along with $356,667 in purse earnings. 

“I hate to say he’s been unlucky, but he has had his troubles, trip-wise, over the years,” Richards said. “But he’s always been consistent.”

After finishing second in his career bow, a six-furlong test over on turf at Woodbine in October 2023, and then third, a head back of the winner in a 6 1/2-furlong race over the main track two weeks later, Dresden Row recorded his first win after a 1 1/4-length score at 1 1/16 miles over the same surface on Nov. 5.

He closed out his rookie campaign with another strong outing, a 3 1/4-length triumph at 6 1/2 furlongs over the main track on Dec. 7.

Dresden Row’s first stakes success came in the Durham Cup on Sept. 28, 2024. One race later, he took the Ontario Derby (G3).

After a second in the Autumn Stakes (G2) last November, Dresden Row ventured to Turfway Park in December and finished second, a head behind the winner Paros, in the Prairie Bayou Stakes, which yielded a track-record time of 1:42.22.

Dresden Row’s 4-year-old debut, on June 28 at Woodbine, came in the Highlander (G3), where he was third in the six-furlong turf event.

“This guy is the real deal,” Richards said. “He’s as genuine as they come.”

Dresden Row breezed five furlongs in 1:02.20 over the main track on Sept. 10. Five days later, he covered four furlongs in 50.8 seconds over the same surface.

“Just maintenance works,” Richards said. “He had a good bottom in them. He did miss two weeks of training. He’s athletic. Some guys can sit on the couch and smoke cigarettes for two months and get up off the couch fit as ever. Meanwhile, you can work out that whole time and can’t get close to them. He’s athletic and he’s a natural, so it’s easier for those types.

“Hopefully, everything falls into place for him, he gets a decent trip and a chance to show his stuff.”

Richards believes the best is still to come for the colt.

“I think he’s going to show some great things before his racing career comes to a close. He has that type of talent.” 

Martin Drexler sends out the trio of Classic Mo Town, Cool Kiss and Skyro. Also slated to run are graded-stakes-placed Journeyman, graded-stakes-placed Loose Wire, multiple graded-stakes winner Paramount Prince and graded-stakes-placed Playmea Tune.