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Dresden Raceway Track History
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From the late 1880s, standardbred harness racing has been a consuming interest and wide appeal in the Dresden district. In 1889, there were "Trials of Speed", under sponsorship of "The Dresden Driving Club."
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Purses were a far cry from those of today, as they totalled $850 over the three day meet; and there were five heats per race.
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In future years, racing was usually held in conjunction with the annual Camden-Dresden Fair. In 1919, a group of fair board members decided to lay out a new half mile track, and without benefit of professional surveyors, did just that with their teams and dump scrapers. Despite the lack of engineers, they were successful, and in the 1980s, when pros were called in, it was learned the old timers were accurate in their layout of the oval within six inches over the half mile. The width of the track was enlarged by two feet, and some of the sharper turns eliminated when the track was rebuilt and resurfaced a few years ago.
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Other disparities between the early time period and the present era were in the times: the 2:50 class was run in the average time of 2:37; the 3:00 class went in record time of 2:40.5; 2:39.25; 2:42.5; 2:40; 2:45 and 2:42 - slow by present day marks, but it must be remembered that the carts had high, wooden wheels, and were far from cumbersome than those of today.
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Horsemen made the circuit of fall fairs, and naturally were inclined towards those which offered the largest purses, and interest lagged mildly. As a result, a group of men got together in the early 1950s and formed The Dresden Race Association. They put up surety to ensure decent purses, and held a race meet in June, later expanding to three weekends throughout the year, including Labour Day. By this time, a new grandstand had replaced an older one, and was capable of seating 2300 people. There was an overflow crowd of "railbirds" which stretched both ways from the stand, frequently as far back as the barn section at the west end of the grounds. In later years, the fair board once again assumed control of the races and named Jack Latimer as racing secretary. The position was later taken over by George Deacon. A new $600,000+ grandstand was built on the north side of the track, complete with pari-mutuel betting windows, and while still in debt as of 1990, racing continues through the spring and summer months and into the fall.
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Moving Forward
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In 1997 Dresden Raceway received a helping hand from Windsor Raceway. Windsor took Dresden under it’s wing and began to operate it as it’s own. With it came new promotions and a promising future.
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Soon to follow would be the Slots facility. Dresden followed suit and jumped on the Slots bandwagon to boost purses and provide stability to bring forth a bright future.
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