Pietro\u00a0Moran\u00a0was already in high demand as Woodbine’s leading jockey, but he’s become an even hotter commodity following his stunning win Saturday in the $1-million King’s Plate.<\/p>\n
The 20-year-old star apprentice rode Mansetti, an 18-1 longshot, to a 2 1\/2-length victory in the Plate, the first jewel of the OLG Canadian Triple Crown, at Woodbine Racetrack.\u00a0Moran\u00a0captured the win in just his second Plate start after finishing fourth last year aboard Pierre.<\/p>\n
“It already has,” Tom Patton, Moran’s agent, said when asked if he expected to start fielding more calls about\u00a0Moran\u00a0following Saturday’s win. “Pietro is a very determined rider who is determined to do well, he has that.<\/p>\n
“He’s a little quieter about it, he might not speak it or show it but he definitely has that. He really has everything going for him and the sky is the limit.”<\/p>\n
Moran\u00a0became the third-youngest jockey to win the Plate. But as impressive was how he and Mansetti went about it.<\/p>\n
Scorching took the early lead in the 1 1\/4-mile race but was quickly overshadowed by\u00a0Moran\u00a0and Mansetti to his inside. Shortly after the opening quarter, Mansetti took control and was never really threatened throughout the race, earning trainer Kevin Attard his second straight Plate victory and third in four years.<\/p>\n
Attard said\u00a0Moran\u00a0effectively answered any questions owners might have had about enlisting the young jockey’s services.<\/p>\n
“He just won the biggest race on the calendar to date, a marquee one like the King’s Plate, going a classic distance to boot under a pretty smooth ride,” Attard said. “If there were any people who had some doubt, I think it just reassures them now that legging him up isn’t going to hurt your chances, for sure.”<\/p>\n
Moran\u00a0has made winning a nice habit this year. He’s leading Woodbine jockeys in victories (68), purse earnings (over $3.1 million) and starts (395).<\/p>\n
Moran\u00a0was a finalist as Canada’s top apprentice jockey last year and is a virtual lock now to capture the ’25 honour. But the Plate win has also made\u00a0Moran\u00a0the favourite for the Eclipse Award as North America’s champion apprentice.<\/p>\n
And considering\u00a0Moran\u00a0will remain an apprentice until Jan. 6, 2026, he has plenty of time to add to his impressive list of ’25 achievements and further solidify his status as the Eclipse Award front-runner.<\/p>\n
“I’d have to think that race (Plate) is a big step,” said Attard, Canada’s champion trainer last year. “Put it this way, I’d be surprised if another apprentice wins a $1-million race anywhere in North America.”<\/p>\n
A fact not lost upon Patton.<\/p>\n
“I’m obviously biased but I’d have to think he’d have to be the (Eclipse Award) favourite just off that one race alone,” he said. “I don’t know of another apprentice who’s won the King’s Plate and I don’t know of an apprentice in the U.S. that’s won a $1-million race before.”<\/p>\n
As good as\u00a0Moran\u00a0is on the track, he’s an even better person off it. A respectful, reserved and pleasant individual,\u00a0Moran\u00a0might have the youth of an apprentice but he also possesses the maturity of a journeyman.<\/p>\n
“I’d say that’s a very fair assessment,” Attard said.<\/p>\n
Moran\u00a0comes by both his riding prowess and pleasant demeanour honestly. His father, David, is a also very well-respected, veteran jockey at Woodbine while his mother, Maria, is a former jockey.<\/p>\n
David\u00a0Moran\u00a0also rode in the Plate on Saturday, finishing eighth aboard William T. It marked the first time in race history that a father and son competed in the same event.<\/p>\n
What’s more, Pietro\u00a0Moran\u00a0and Mansetti began Saturday’s race on the rail. Starting beside them in the 13-horse field were David\u00a0Moran\u00a0and William T in post No. 2.<\/p>\n
If there’s a knock against the junior\u00a0Moran, it’s that he’s maybe too nice. Many elite athletes succeed because they not only have a competitive fire burning within but also an on-court\/on-field aura and visible confidence that they’re virtually unbeatable.<\/p>\n
“What makes some athletes kind of take that jump from being great to almost elite is they almost need a chip on their shoulder, a little attitude, a little swagger in a sense,” Attard said. “It’s not that I want to see him get cocky in life, but you almost have to have that mentality right?<\/p>\n
“I think right now he’s dipping his feet into the water and getting a sense or a feel of the temperature, so to speak. As he gets more confident and rides more, that will come.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Pietro\u00a0Moran\u00a0was already in high demand as Woodbine’s leading jockey, but he’s become an even hotter commodity following his…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":78483,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[40],"tags":[3004,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-78482","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-racing","tag-racing","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78482","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=78482"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78482\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/78483"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=78482"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=78482"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=78482"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}