from the Meadowlands publicity department

East Rutherford, NJ — Cat Manzi is more of your nuts and bolts type of harness driver.

He is literally a blue-collar driver — he wears distinctive blue and white driving colors. He drives day and night, and this year currently sits on top of the North American dash-winning standings with 408 victories through July 14, 48 more than Mark MacDonald in second. Through mid-July, Manzi has appeared in 2,185 races and banked more than $4.6 million with a UDR –– the driving batting average — of .320. This does not mean he is not fully ready to tackle the million dollar races, like Saturday night’s $1 million Meadowlands Pace for three-year-old pacers.

Manzi has picked up the drive on Team Hutch in the Meadowlands’ signature event, carded as the eighth race. Team Hutch, trained by Homer Hochstetler for Warrenville, Illinois couple Joy and Bonnie Neal Hutchison, Jr., is rated 10-1 in the morning line from post eight. The homebred three-year-old gelded son of Sportsmaster has six wins and two thirds in eight starts this year, banking $135,650 toward a career total of $411,862.

Manzi has driven in eight previous editions of the Meadowlands Pace, finishing second in 1992 with Driven By Design and picking up third money three times — in 1991 with Stormin Jesse, in 1993 with Riyadh and in 2002 with Allamerican Ingot. Seemingly his best chance to capture the top prize was 2004 with Mantacular, who had provided the 55-year-old reinsman with his first million dollar score in Woodbine’s North America Cup.

“It just wasn’t his night last year,” Manzi said of Mantacular’s tenth place finish, the result of a disqualification from sixth for interference at the three-quarter pole.

When he finished second to Carlsbad Cam with Driven By Design in 1992, racing luck was with Manzi.

“I remember working out a very good trip in the race,” recalled Manzi, who already captured this year’s $700,000 WR Haughton Memorial with Dr No. “Something happened to Western Hanover in the first turn (he was impeded). Things just went his way that night.”

The class of 1993 was formidable and Manzi’s mount, Riyadh, finished behind two luminaries — Presidential Ball and Life Sign.

“He was a very good horse, but he was not at his absolute best on the bigger track,” the Hall of Famer said of Riyadh. “I remember driving him at Freehold and putting up a big number with him.”

Another tough field was 1991 when Stormin Jesse finished behind Precious Bunny and Artsplace.

“I know he was a longshot and beat the rest,” Manzi noted. “He missed by a nose of beating Artsplace for the second spot.”

The field for the eighth race, the $1 million Meadowlands Pace, with post, horse, driver, trainer and morning line odds: 1, Village Jolt, Ron Pierce, Brett Pelling, 8-1; 2, Leading X Ample, Eric Ledford, William Elliott, 5-1; 3, Stonebridge Regal, Jack Moiseyev, Robert McIntosh, 3-1; 4, George At Bigs, Jim Morrill, Jr., Mark Harder, 15-1; 5, Rocknroll Hanover, Brian Sears, Brett Pelling, 5-2; 6, Cam’s Fool, John Campbell, Brett Pelling, 6-1; 7, Load The Dice, Mike Lachance, Chris Ryder, 15-1; 8, Team Hutch, Cat Manzi, Homer Hochstetler, 10-1; 9, Allamerican Inca, David Miller, Noel Daley, 15-1; and 10, American Ideal, George Brennan, Casie Coleman, 12-1.

Around The Meadowlands for July 15, 2005

Bob McIntosh, who has harnessed six previous Meadowlands Pace finalists, thinks he has his best chance this year with Stonebridge Regal, rated 3-1 in the morning line.

“This is my best, most legitimate shot yet to win the Pace,” McIntosh said. “Last week’s race was pretty amazing. He had post 10, was pushed around some in the first turn. I remember thinking right there, this isn’t good. It was a pretty amazing mile. I’m glad Jack (Moiseyev) drove the way he did. He’s got a large heart, a great cardio-vascular system. He’s not a particularly big horse but gives 120 percent all the time, loves to fight. In Canada, he showed a 25 out and a 26 home. You don’t get many that come along like that. This colt has what it takes. He sleeps a lot during the day and only gets up to eat. He preserves himself very well. He doesn’t worry about anything. Winning the Meadowlands Pace is a really big deal. It would be huge, and a good story, too. This horse didn’t race at two. If he did, you wouldn’t have heard from him this year. He’s been good beyond my wildest dreams. This year, I wouldn’t trade him for anybody.”

Two of the 10 Meadowlands Pace finalists this year race, in part, in the name of George Segal’s Brittany Farms of Versailles, Kentucky — Load The Dice and American Ideal. Both were Brittany-bred.

“Load The Dice was a little sick from shipping back from the North America Cup,” noted Myron Bell, the Brittany spokesperson. “He was sharper then than he’s been the last couple of weeks. Mike Lachance never pulled the plugs on him last week, and he got lucky, we got lucky, to get into the final placed fifth. Sometimes, like Brett Pelling said at the (post position draw and) luncheon, things happen. You pick up a bug here or there and you deal with it. This is a better horse than he’s shown of late, and we’re hoping he’s better for the final.

“American Ideal went for $72,000 at Tattersalls (sale),” Bell recalled. “Mac Nichol deserves the credit. He picked the horse out. George and I had looked at the horse and liked him a lot as a yearling. He’s the fourth foal from Lifetime Success, and the first Western Ideal.The first three were Western Hanovers. Last year, I had come back from vacation on December 31 and noticed that he was racing at Woodbine one night. The track had to be six to eight seconds off. He went a big mile. This was the week before the Count B Series began. He was right there in like a 2:02 mile. I remember how impressed I was with the effort, especially since they canceled the rest of the races right after that. A few weeks later in the series, he wins in 1:52.3. I waited until the Monday after the race, and called Mr. Nichol. I didn’t want to be like everyone else trying to buy the horse. I told him how impressed I was by the effort, and that myself and George Segal were interested in the colt. If you ever wanted to sell a piece, we’d be interested. A week later, he called, and we got in for 25 percent. We have to play the cards that are dealt to us. He’s gotten post 10 in both the Cup and now the Pace. But we think he’s a top three or four colt. So we’ll just have to wait and see how it plays out.”

Casie Coleman, 25, will be the first woman trainer to harness an entrant in two million dollar races. Her trainee, American Ideal, was eighth in the $1.2 million North America Cup Final on June 18 at Woodbine and she sends out the same colt in Saturday night’s $1 million Meadowlands Pace Final, where he is rated 12-1 from post 10. Andrea Chadwick was the only other woman to start a horse in the Pace final, finishing eighth with Lord Willing in 1992 at odds of 22-1.

The richest race won by a woman trainer was the 1995 Woodrow Wilson, which was worth $685,500. Liz Quesnel captured the race with A Stud Named Sue. Two women have earned checks in the Hambletonian. Flo Elliott finished fifth in 1997 with Giant Special and Brooke Nickells was fourth with Lavecster in 2001. Anna Lena Lunggren sent out Baltic Baby in the 1993 Hambletonian but a sixth place finish in the elims kept them out of the final.

Mike Lachance, Daniel Dube and Yannick Gingras shared some Pace memories.

“In 1988, Matt’s Scooter was the horse who got the second half of my career started, jump-started really,” said Lachance, who will make his 17th Pace appearance with Load The Dice this year. “I had never driven on the Grand Circuit, except for here and there, until that year. I was 37-years-old. Matt’s Scooter was the horse who helped me get the national notice. I had been driving a lot on the smaller tracks before that, and it helped that people found out I could do so on the bigger tracks, too. Matt’s Scooter was a fantastic part of my career and a great, great racehorse.”

Lachance did not win his second Pace until Allamerican Theory in 2003.

“In 2000, Gallo Blue Chip was unbelievable,” recalled Dube, who won that year in his second Pace drive. “I knew he was the best horse in the Meadowlands Pace, but I was still worried a little. He had shied away from other drivers’ whips a few times and made breaks, and I didn’t want that to happen. So when I made the move to the lead past the half, I went a little wider than I normally would have — just to get around everyone. As soon as I cleared, I knew he had it won. Winning the Meadowlands Pace — there’s nothing better.”

Gingras made his Pace debut in 2004 with the horse to beat –– Timesareachanging.

“It was awesome, the highest moment of my career for sure,” Gingras said. “I remember thinking about it all day, looking so much forward to the race. It’s amazing what winning a race like the Meadowlands Pace can do. Look how it helped Danny (Dube) the rest of the year when he won it with Gallo Blue Chip. Had I won it last year with Timesareachanging (who finished second), the rest of the year would have been different. But I was happy with how things went. I knew in the first turn it was going to be very tough to win it. I remember saying to myself when Geartogear couldn’t clear, I was going to be stuck out in the outer tier. I wound up something like fifth over, and at the three-quarter pole, I got stacked up five deep. But you have to be a great horse to get second from there. Timesareachanging went a mile and a quarter than night. He was unreal. I hope I get a horse like that to drive next year in the Meadowlands Pace.”

Joseph Peter Turro of Hampton, New Jersey will be singing the National Anthem prior to the races on Meadowlands Pace Night, Saturday, July 16, 2005. Turro and his triplet siblings — Carly and Matthew — graduated this year from Kittatinny Regional High School in Hampton, New Jersey. Since ninth grade, Turro participated in numerous choirs and productions. He has been involved with the Sussex County Choir, Region I New Jersey Choir, New Jersey All-State Choir, and the All-Eastern United States Choir. He has attended Westminster Choir College Vocal Institute and the Governor’s School of the Arts of New Jersey. Turro, son of Fiona and Joe Turro, intends to make a career in classical vocal music and will be attending the Oberlin Conservatory of Music at Oberlin College in Ohio, in the fall.