The Durham Cup Stakes is a Canadian Thoroughbred horse race run annually at Woodbine Racetrack in Toronto, Ontario. Run in mid October, the Grade III race is open to horses age three and older. Raced over a distance of 1⅛ miles on Polytrack synthetic dirt, it currently offers a purse of $150,000.
The race was first run in 1906 as the Durham Cup Handicap at Old Woodbine Racetrack. It remained there until the track was closed and replaced by the new Woodbine racetrack. Since inception it has been contested at various distances:
- 1¾ miles : 1906-1951
- 1¼ miles : 1952-1979
- 1⅛ miles : 1980-present
In 1992, Francine Villeneuve became the first female jockey to win the race.
Famous quotes containing the words cup and/or stakes:
“The cup of Morgan Fay is shattered.
Life is a bitter sage,
And we are weary infants
In a palsied age.”
—Allen Tate (1899–1979)
“Law makes long spokes of the short stakes of men.”
—William Empson (1906–1984)