Champions Paramount Prince, Dresden Row search for a win in Durham Cup
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ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Paramount Prince, the 2023 King’s Plate winner, meets reigning Canadian champion male 3-year-old Dresden Row and six others in Saturday’s Grade 3, $150,000 Durham Cup at Woodbine.
Paramount Prince was the champion male sophomore in 2023 and was voted the Sovereign Award for champion older male on the main track last year, during which he won the Grade 2 Seagram Cup and Grade 3 Dominion Day
Dresden Row captured last year’s 1 1/16-mile Durham Cup while Paramount Prince faded to fifth as the odds-on favorite. Paramount Prince got the winter off after another fade job in the Grade 2 Autumn in November.
Paramount Prince has checked in third in both of his outings this year, most recently behind Swift Delivery and Dresden Row in the Aug. 3 Seagram Cup. The fast breaker looks like the clear speed on Saturday, when he’ll be reunited with jockey Patrick Husbands.
Dresden Row had a terrific 2024, which included a gutsy score in the Grade 3 Ontario Derby, along with three strong performances against older stakes opponents. This year, however, has been a frustrating one for the handsome chestnut. Swift Delivery got the jump on him before he rallied for second in the Grade 3 Seagram Cup.
“He didn’t get the greatest trip,” trainer Lorne Richards recalled. “He got pinned in along the rail and by the time he got going, it was a bit too late.”
Dresden Row was scratched from his scheduled start in the Grade 2 King Edward here Aug. 16.
“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 what it was. The best guess was maybe it was an abscess that burst, but he really spiked a big-time temperature.”
Trainer Marty Drexler entered Classic Mo Town, Skyro, and Cool Kiss.
Classic Mo Town, a former mid-priced claimer and allowance runner at Gulfstream Park, won his first stakes over Webslinger and Get Smokin in the Grade 2 Eclipse here May 31. He has missed the board in his last two outings, finishing sixth in the Dominion Day and fourth in the Seagram Cup.
Skyro was recently reunited with Drexler, who won a March 5 allowance/optional claimer with him over Gulfstream’s Tapeta. The 7-year-old came up empty over a sloppy track the last time he saw action in late June at Churchill Downs.
Playmea Tune is trying two turns for the first time off a belated fourth behind Simcoe in the Grade 3 Bold Venture. Victorious in the Feb. 1 Forego Stakes at Turfway Park, the son of Maclean’s Music has a blend of speed and stamina in his bloodlines.
Loose Wire ran third last December in his lone stakes engagement in the Grade 3 Valedictory over 1 1/2 miles. Returning from an 8 1/2-month layoff Aug. 20, he prevailed in a conditioned allowance/optional claimer at Presque Isle Downs.
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