Meadowlands: Twin B Joe Fresh triples in Dorothy Haughton Memorial

It was a natural hat trick for Twin B Joe Fresh, as the 2024 Horse of the Year rebounded in style on Saturday night, turning back a solid field to win the Grade 2 $165,750 Dorothy Haughton Memorial for older pacing mares in a 1:48 4/5 mile; her third straight victory in the stakes event held at the Meadowlands.

Dexter Dunn wasted no time leaving the gate with the 6-year-old Roll With Joe-sired mare, and Twin B Joe Fresh waited for Unreasonable, with Todd McCarthy, to gain control before moving to the front past a 26 2/5 opening quarter. With little movement on the outside, Dunn took full advantage, backing down the pace substantially in the second quarter to the tune of 55 seconds.

Miki And Minnie, fresh off her thrilling defeat of stablemate Twin B Joe Fresh a week ago in the Perfect Sting, was on the outside from the start looking for cover to follow, but driver James MacDonald had to give up the plan as the pace slowed dramatically and the field stayed pinned to the pylons. Miki And Minnie made up plenty of ground in the third quarter, but Twin B Joe Fresh was still well-rested in front following a 28 second flat third quarter and marched on strongly turning into the homestretch.

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Unreasonable and Todd McCarthy tried to come out of the pocket to challenge, and Miki And Minnie dug in bravely, but neither mare was able to close the gap in a material way, and Twin B Joe Fresh cruised to the finish with a 25 4/5 quarter to get the job done. Unreasonable was second and Miki And Minnie finished third.

Trained by Chris Ryder and owned by Ryder along with Dunn, Peter Trebotica and Barry Spak, Twin B Joe Fresh was a winner for the 38th time in her career and improved her lifetime bankroll to a hair shy of $3 million. Twin B Joe Fresh returned $4.60 to win.

"I hadn't lost faith in her," said Ryder. "When I saw she got the half in 55 seconds I knew it was her race to lose."