from the Hambletonian Society

East Rutherford, NJ — Don’t Let’em, driven by Yannick Gingras, led wire-to-wire to win by 3-1/4 lengths, setting a stakes and track record of 1:51.4 in the $422,350 Peter Haughton Memorial final for 2-year-old trotting colts and geldings on Saturday afternoon (Aug. 4) at The Meadowlands.

USTA/Mark Hall photo

Don’t Let’em won the Peter Haughton Memorial in a stakes and track record time of 1:51.4.

By winning the Peter Haughton, Don’t Let’em is the early favorite for the 2019 Hambletonian as the race has always served as a preview to harness racing’s biggest trotting race.

Walner previously held the track record of 1:53, set on Oct. 29, 2016.

At odds of 3-1, Don’t Let’em took the lead at the quarter in :27.1 and never looked back. Don’t Let’em paid $8.00, $4.20, and $3.20. The 11-1 Green Manalishi S ($12.20, $9.80), driven by David Miller, finished second and Mass Fortune K (Matt Kakaley) finished third ($27.00) by 6-1/4 lengths.

“It doesn’t surprise anyone from the farm or any of the ownership. He is a very, very talented horse,” said General Manager Art Zubrod of Brittany Farms, the co-owner and breeder of the Muscle Hill-Passageway colt who is also owned by Christina Takter, John Fielding and Herb Liverman. The winning trainer is Jimmy Takter.

This was Gingras’s second win of the day and his fourth Haughton win, having won with You Know You Do (1:54.2) in 2017, Southwind Frank (1:53.4) in 2015 and Father Patrick (1:54.1) in 2013.