Harrah's Philadelphia: Twin B Joe Fresh captures Betsy Ross Invitational

Twin B Joe Fresh, the 2024 Dan Patch Horse of the Year, made her seasonal debut a winning one Sunday (May 25), capturing the $100,000 Grade 3 Betsy Ross Invitational, for older female pacers, by 3 1/4 lengths over My Girl EJ in 1:49 3/5 at Harrah's Philadelphia. Valar Dohaeris finished third.

My Girl EJ, a 4-year-old and returning Dan Patch Award winner also making her seasonal debut, got the lead in a 26 4/5 opening quarter after a four-wide trip around the first turn. Twin B Joe Fresh, who was three-wide during the four-horse battle for the front, settled behind My Girl EJ, with Valar Dohaeris in third.

Twin B Joe Fresh and driver Dexter Dunn bided their time from there as My Girl EJ reached the half in 55 seconds and three-quarters in 1:22. Dunn began to move Twin B Joe Fresh midway around the final turn and the 5-year-old mare responded to overtake My Girl EJ in the stretch and draw away as part of a 27 1/5 last quarter.

The victory was Twin B Joe Fresh's second consecutive Betsy Ross title, making her the first mare to win the event in back-to-back years since Shartin N did so in 2018 and 2019.

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Dating back to November 2023, Twin B Joe Fresh has won 13 consecutive stakes or invitational finals, with only two of those victories by less than a length.

"She's a fun mare to drive with her versatility," Dunn said. "It was a bit of a scramble early, but I knew as soon as we got behind (My Girl EJ) we'd be all right. She does what you want her to do when you want her to do it. When I moved her, she knew exactly what to do."

Twin B Joe Fresh has won 31 of 41 career races and earned $2.38 million for trainer Chris Ryder, who owns the mare with Dunn, Peter Trebotica, and Barry Spak. The daughter of Roll With Joe-Fresh Breeze was bred by Brittany Farms.

Sent off as the 1-5 favorite, Twin B Joe Fresh paid $2.40 to win