David Drew
grew up around horses on a farm, and he spent a lifetime racing standardbreds
on the side, while working full-time at General Motors in Canada.
Finally, ten
years into retirement, Drew is realizing a dream to not only race at the
Meadowlands Racetrack, but to do it at the top level, and with a homebred.
Last week,
Drew’s Modern Legend finished third to Golden Receiver in a first leg division,
and the five-year-old son of Modern Art has drawn the rail [program number two]
in a $40,000 single round two division, carded as Saturday’s eleventh race.
Once again,
five-time Presidential winner, Hall of Famer John Campbell will drive Modern
Legend, who has won 12 of 19 career starts and $240,139 for Drew of St.
Catharines, Ontario.
“Overall,
this would be considered a dream on my part to be racing at the Meadowlands in
the Presidential Series,” admitted Drew. “This is beyond what I could
have imagined. I mean, he’s a homebred, I raised him and drove him in his
first four starts to get him underway. This is the first time I’ve raced
a horse there that I’ve owned, but I did win Delvin Miller Silver Cup for
amateur drivers back in 2007. That was certainly a highlight of my
career.”
Although Drew
worked in automobile manufacturing most of his life, he has family roots in
rural Southwestern Ontario.
“I grew up on
farm in the town of Merlin, Ontario,” recalled Drew. ‘I’ve had some
involvement with harness racing horses almost all of my life. I have a
brother, Greg Drew, who is also in the business and still on the family
farm. My late father, Murray got me interested in the horses when I was a
teenager.
“We had a
large 350-acre farm with beef cattle and cash crops. It was a busy place
before we added harness racing horses into the mix. My father had always
been interested in it and that was our first venture into it. We raced
mostly at the smaller tracks like Dresden, Windsor and Western Fair.”
“I spent a
33-year career at General Motors,” said Drew. “I was the Plant Manager in
St. Catharines, Ontario from 1992 to 2002. I moved around to six
different facilities in Ontario and Quebec. I owned horses with my
brother throughout my working career. I retired about ten years ago and
went off to train some of my own. I’m stabled at Dr. John Hayes Stable in
Beamsville, Ontario, and I have three horses right now. They’re all
homebreds out of the same mare, Ruby Cam. One of my other training
associates there is Carman Hie.”
Modern Legend
is a well-preserved five-year-old with plenty of upside.
“Typically, I
started pretty slow with him like my others,” noted Drew. “I had him
trained down to about 2:15 as a two-year-old and then backed off through the
Winter. I got him to the races midseason as a three-year-old and he
started an eight-race winning streak at Woodbine in the Autumn Series.
Then, he swept the Snowshoe and Cam Fella Series. He’s just excelled
wonderfully.
“Unfortunately,
he got injured in the Cam Fella Final despite going on to win the race.
He hit himself when he was interfered with. I took my time bringing him
back late in 2012 and he won a Preferred at Woodbine in 1:51.4. I was
pleased with the way he’s come back, and last week was the fastest he’s ever
gone (1:49.1). I’ve got him stabled at Mark Ford’s training center in
Middletown, NY, and it’s working out nicely.
“Understandably,
I’ve had several offers for him, but he’s a once-in-a-lifetime horse, so I
intend to keep him. He’s an excellent handling horse to train and race.”
When it came
to the right mating for the dam Ruby Cam, Drew played around and finally struck
gold with Modern Art.
“When I chose
to breed to Modern Art I was moving around trying different sires. I have
an Astreos six-year-old and a Jereme’s Jet three-year-old. I was looking
for a stallion with reasonable size since Ruby Cam is not real big. I
actually sold the dam two years ago and haven’t been able to relocate
her. I would probably buy her back.”
Drew’s
venture to the Meadowlands has come complete with a Hall of Fame driver.
“The other
part of the dream equation is getting John Campbell to drive the horse for me,”
said Drew. “I remember when John was up and coming in London, Ontario and
at Windsor Raceway. Ten or twenty years ago I would’ve considered it
unbelievable that John would drive for me. I contacted him after I
nominated the horse to the Presidential and he gladly accepted.”
Drew’s
contribution to racing has also involved the challenging uncertainty back home.
“I’m the
Secretary Treasurer of the Central Ontario Standardbred Association, which
represents horsemen at Woodbine and Mohawk,” he noted. “Along with the
President, Bill O’Donnell, and the other directors, we’re working towards
sustainable racing in the province. The current Liberal government is
changing leadership and conventions are coming up. We’re continuing to
lobby all of the candidates. The Ontario Government was receiving a
billion dollars annually from the Slots at Racetracks Program before they
suddenly cancelled it, which defied logic.”
