The Meadowlands Racetrack is pleased to announce that the Golden Girls stakes for older pacing mares has been renamed to memorialize Dorothy Haughton, widow of the late WR Haughton.

Haughton, long regarded as 'The First Lady' of Harness Racing, was a genuine, lovely person full of grace and class who had a sincere love of the sport and an enormous capacity to handle its ups and downs. A self-described “homemaker, mother and grandmother,” Haughton was a trustee of the Harness Racing Museum & Hall of Fame from 1982 until her passing in 2019.

The Golden Girls seems a fitting tribute with its considerable status among Grand Circuit stakes and has long been among the most respected for the division. The 2019 sweep of the Golden Girls and its Hambletonian Day sister stakes the Lady Liberty in world record time clearly played a prominent role in securing the Dan Patch 2019 Horse of the Year award for Shartin N.

The Dorothy Haughton Memorial will be raced as a part of the July 18 Meadowlands Pace card upon which the WR Haughton Memorial for the finest older pacing horses has been a highlight for many years.

The timing couldn't be better and the Meadowlands is proud to honour the memory of Bill and Dottie Haughton.

Dorothy Haughton pictured with her family.

(Meadowlands Racetrack)