Pietro Moran, who won the 2025 Outstanding Apprentice Eclipse Award, will begin riding at Gulfstream Park on Sunday, March 1. The young man will be riding as a journeyman for the first time.
The 20-year-old Irish-born jockey, whose meet-leading 140 wins at Woodbine included a $1 million King’s Plate victory aboard Mansetti, has been named on a pair of three-year-old maidens by Canadian trainer Rachel Halden. He has the mounts on Magical Factor in Race 8, a 1 1/8-mile maiden special weight on turf, and Just In Touch in Race 11, a 1 1/8-mile maiden special weight race on turf for fillies.
“I’ll ride here until April and head back to Woodbine,” said Moran, who lived in Ireland for six years before moving with his family to Canada. “I’m here for the experience. It’s a good room with a lot of good riders I can learn from and a lot of good trainers and owners.”
“I’ve been very fortunate so far. I’ve had a lot of opportunities and support, and I hope to keep it going,” Moran said.
There may be a new face in the Woodbine jockey room come opening day as ROMERO MARAGH has indicated he would like to try riding in Ontario. In a news item on the Sports illustrated website, Maragh said jockeys leaving Woodbine and the likelihood that Woodbine trainers will go to New York in the fall and winter of 2026 because of its new Tapeta track, were deciding factors.
“I think a lot of Canadian trainers are going to be back at Belmont for the winter, so I think that’s a big deciding factor to help me get back into New York for the winter at least,” Maragh told Sports Illustrated.
Maragh has won 317 races from 4,057 starts since beginning his riding career in 2018.
He is coming off a broken elbow and thumb which occurred in a fall at Finger Lakes in October. Like Moran, Maragh, who is a cousin of jockey Rajiv Maragh, will ride at Gulfstream until Woodbine begins. Maragh’s agent at Woodbine will be Jordan Miller.
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