by Carol Hodes, for the New Jersey Sires Stakes

Freehold, NJ — Better Than Most ($17.00, $4.80, $2.10) was better than the rest, catching odds on favorite Shutter Boy ($2.60, $2.10) for a neck victory in the $85,000 New Jersey Sires Stakes Final for 2-year-old trotting colts and geldings, the featured sixth race on Wednesday (September 5) at Freehold Raceway. It was 1-3/4 lengths to Yankee Gospel ($2.10), a son of Muscles Yankee, in third.

Better Than Most, driven by Jeff Gregory and trained by his owner, Jonas Czernyson, benefited from a two-hole trip in a 2:01 mile cut by Shutter Boy (by Yankee Glide), who brought a three-race winning streak into the final.

This was Better Than Most’s second win, with a second and a third in seven starts, and lifted his bankroll to nearly $64,000.

Bred by Southwind Farms of Pennington, New Jersey, Better Than Most is a gelded son of Self Possessed out of Articulate Hanover. He is the half-brother to two championship mares — Ariane Du Haras (earner of $403,736) and Southwind Allaire ($733,534).