You Know You Do wins Peter Haughton Memorial

A group of high-powered owners came together to purchase the colt for $350,000 as a yearling.

by Ken Weingartner and Dave Briggs

You Know You Do overtook stablemate Samo Different Day in the stretch to win Saturday’s $360,650 Peter Haughton Memorial Stakes for 2-year-old male trotters in 1:54.2, the fourth race at the Meadowlands Racetrack.

Samo Different Day held on for second in a photo over Farsetti Hanover. The margin of victory was two and a quarter lengths.

You Know You Do, driven by Yannick Gingras, started a first-over bid on the backstretch against fraction-setting Samo Different Day, who led the field to the quarter in 28, half in 56.1 and three-quarters in 1:25.3, and was alongside the leader as the field exited the final turn. He won for the third time in four races for trainer Jimmy Takter.

The colt was a $350,000 purchase at the Standardbred Horse Sale. He is owned by Howard Taylor, Order By Stable, Bud Hatfield, and the partnership of Marvin Katz, Al Libfeld, and Sam Goldband.

“His pedigree is the same cross as Bar Hopping and his conformation was impeccable,” Libfeld said. “Everyone wanted a piece of him and we made it happen. It’s great to have friends, winning good races.”

“We have 80 to 90 per cent fillies, 10 per cent colts,” Katz added. “(But) he was very, very special. We’ll look for colts here and there that we think could be exceptional. It’s really a policy of pursuing excellence and we thought he could fit that category.”

You Know You Do, sent off as the 3-2 favorite, paid $5.00, $3.00 $3.00 to win. He pushed his career earnings to $206,932. More importantly, it puts him on a path toward next year’s Hambletonian.

“It sets the table with some serious credentials,” Libfeld said. “The money is not hard to take, either, so we are about winning the big races and also breeding horses. We can never have too many top stallions.”