Cool Kiss rallies late for Durham Cup upset

ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Longshot Cool Kiss woke up big time in Saturday's Grade 3 Durham Cup at Woodbine, running by the favorites in deep stretch to land his first stakes under Sahin Civaci.

Paramount Prince, the 2023 King’s Plate victor, set a quick pace in the 1 1/16-mile route while being prompted by the favored Dresden Row, Canada’s reigning champion male 3-year-old. Cool Kiss saved ground in fourth and loomed into contention on the far turn. He kicked in nicely through the lane and caught Dresden Row late to win by a neck in a time of 1:42.74.

Paramount Prince faded to third and was followed by Playmea Tune, Classic Mo Town, Skyro, Loose Wire, and Journeyman.

Cool Kiss was a $40,000 claim last fall by the partnership of Stephen Chesney and Cory Hoffman, along with trainer Marty Drexler, who also ran Classic Mo Town and Skyro. The son of Kantharos had just a third to his credit from his last three starts in conditioned allowance company.

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“We took a shot, but this horse has not had any racing luck at all,” Drexler said. “I always thought he could run. I thought, when he drew the one-hole, that we had a very good chance of getting a good trip. That’s what it came down to. Ultimately, it couldn’t have set up any better. [Civaci] just sat there, like I told him, and the pace set up in front of him. The whole thing just worked out well.”

Cool Kiss paid $36.90 and earned $90,000 of the $154,800 purse.

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