by Don Bielak, publicity director, Freehold Raceway

FREEHOLD, NJ – – John Adams, with Hall of Famer Cat Manzi in the sulky, found room in the stretch and won the featured $85,000 New Jersey Sire Stakes final for NJ-sired sophomore pacing colts and geldings at Freehold Raceway on Saturday.

The gelded son of Cam’s Card Shark had been shuffled back from the midway point of the mile, but got clear with 100 yards to go and caught a stubborn Brokaw (Jim Pantaleano) by a neck at the wire in a final time of 1:53.4 over the sloppy racing surface. You Tell Gordy (Yannick Gingras) weakened through the stretch and finished third, three and three-quarters lengths behind the winner.

John Adams notched his eighth win in 22 starts this year in capturing the NJSS final for his owners, Neptune Stables and Mjg Racing Stables. The trainee of Luca Derrico returned a win mutuel of $5.80.

On the undercard, Perfect World Enterprises’ Revolutionary Foe responded to strong urging by Manzi and held off a final surge by Escape Attack (Stephen Smith) to win the $35,000 final of the Green Acres Series for three-year-old NJ-sired pacing colts and geldings.

Revolutionary Foe, a son of Artsplace, paced the mile in 1:54.2 and finished a neck in front at the wire. Upscale Hanover (Dan Dube) made a devastating break on the final turn but recovered well enough to salvage the show spot, finishing one and three-quarters lengths off the pace.

The Michael Dux-trained colt registered his sixth victory in 15 outings this season and returned $3.40 as the odds-on favorite in the wagering.

Manzi had a big day in the sulky, winning a total of six races on the Freehold card. In addition to his victories in the featured races, the 55-year-old reinsman also scored with Hincapie Hanover ($7.00), Sound Like Albert ($2.80), Megabucks N ($18.00) and Canadew Sam ($2.40)

Manzi, Freehold’s leading reinsman 17 times, leads all drivers in North America this year with 569 winners.