Woodbine Mohawk Park: Twin B Joe Fresh scores again in Milton Stakes final

Twin B Joe Fresh showed again why she's the top-ranked horse in the sport as she posted a 1:49 1/5 victory in Saturday night's C$205,000 Milton Stakes final for older pacing mares at Woodbine Mohawk Park.

With co-owner Dexter Dunn taking his usual seat in the bike, Twin B Joe Fresh left from the pole position but released rival Sylvia Hanover (Bob McClure) to the top on the way to the 27 1/5 opening quarter. Dunn then tipped out of the two-hole past that marker and reached the point before the half, which went on the board in just 56 seconds flat.

Always B Naughty (Yannick Gingras) rolled the dice first-up from third on the last turn and did make some progress towards Twin B Joe Fresh to three-quarters in 1:23 2/5, but Twin B Joe Fresh, despite not having made a pari-mutuel start since August 17, was strong down the stretch and to the wire, winning by a length and a quarter over Sylvia Hanover, who had room on the inside but appeared unwilling to go into that space and wound up angling into traffic inside the final eighth. Silver Label (Doug McNair) had pace from second-over and was third, followed by Prohibition Legal (Louis Roy), Always B Naughty and Tell's On A Roll (Travis Cullen).

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"She felt great actually. The post parade tonight is probably the best she's felt all year. She's extremely bright at the moment. She's feeling good, and I was really happy with her going to the gate," remarked Dunn after the race. "They do a great job with her in between races. We gave her a quiet qualifier at the Meadowlands in between, but she's so intelligent. She's a dream to drive. Like I've said before, she's just so versatile. She just lets you do whatever you want. Whatever line you pull, she goes with it and does her job.

"When she came back this year, she really grew up a lot, filled out and got bigger and stronger. Her brain is a big asset for her, too. Like I said, she's extremely intelligent. It's a fun ride."

Trainer Chris Ryder co-owns Twin B Joe Fresh, a Brittany Farms-bred 4-year-old by Roll With Joe, with Dunn, Peter Trebotica and Barry Spak. She has a summary of 27-6-1 from 36 appearances, has banked C$2,134,574 and paid $2.20 to win as the 1-9 choice.