Aug 8, 2018 3 min read

At The Meadows

Parked every step, Final Answer still found more in the stretch and collected a maiden-breaking victory in Wednesday’s $100,000 Pennsylvania Stallion Series stake at The Meadows.

The event for freshman colt and gelding trotters was contested over five divisions, with Kate’s Massive, Forecast, Natl Guard Hanover and Cantab Ed also taking splits. Mike Wilder enjoyed a stake double behind Forecast and Natl Guard Hanover.

Final Answer launched his career in the tougher PA Sires Stakes but couldn’t maintain his gait. Thus, on Wednesday, Anthony MacDonald was content to float on the outside and let the youngster cut his own mile.

“He has a lot of talent, but he’s very green and still makes mistakes,” McDonald said. “I just wanted to keep him out of harm’s way.”

The Yankee Glide-Armbro Talk gelding surged late and defeated Winning Legends, a 23-1 bomber, by 1-1/2 lengths in 1:59.1, with Big Bad Caviar third. Andrew Harris trains Final Answer for Thestable Finalanswer Group.

Kate’s Massive had won both career starts in which he’d stayed flat, so the job of trainer/driver Ray Paver on Wednesday was to keep him focused.

“He needs to pay attention, and I need to pay attention – a little of both,” Paver said. “His mind wanders a lot. If we make the final, he’ll have the Keystone Classic here next. That’ll be it for the year.”

Kate’s Massive minded his manners and made short work of the field, triumphing on the front end in 1:59.1. Star Caviar was a ground-saving second, 4-1/2 lengths back, while Capt Chaps Hanover completed the ticket. A homebred son of Muscle Massive-Sister Kate, Kate’s Massive campaigns for Harry Horowitz and Iris Horowitz.

Forecast left alertly but was shuffled and appeared hopelessly locked in entering the final turn. When Casanova’s Jewel jumped it off to his outside, however, Wilder was able to angle the son of Cantab Hall-Downpour off the cones. Once he saw racetrack, Forecast accelerated and downed the previously undefeated Faithfulandtrue by 2-1/2 lengths in 1:59.3. Angus Hanover earned show.

John Butenschoen trains Forecast for William Wiswell, Jean Goehlen and Eugene Schick.

Cal hires coach

A former individual and team Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference champion and an assistant coach within the league, Brady Wert was recently hired as an assistant coach for the California University track & field programs.

Wert completed his second year as an assistant coach at Kutztown after previously serving as a graduate assistant for two seasons at Saint Francis in Laredo. He started his coaching career as an assistant at Slippery Rock after being a standout for The Rock from 2007-11. Wert also served as a volunteer assistant for the Vulcans during the fall 2016 semester.

“I would like to thank Coach (Daniel) Caulfield and the Cal U athletic department for providing me with such an amazing opportunity,” said Wert.

At Kutztown, Wert was responsible for sprints, hurdles, jumps and multi-events, while also assisting in recruiting. He was instrumental in the development of standout McKenzie Fagan, who was selected a Google Cloud Academic All-American by the College Sports Information Directors of America and named to the PSAC Spring Top 10 as a senior. Under Wert, Fagan captured the league title in the high jump during the 2017 indoor season and the 2018 outdoor campaign. Additionally, Kelly Groth broke a 35-year old school record during the preliminaries of the 100-meter dash at the 2018 PSAC Championships.