Al and Bill Ulwelling’s King’s Plate champ MANSETTI is not done his 2025 campaign just yet. The bay three-year-old colt, coming off second-place finishes in the Prince of Wales Stakes and Grade 3 Ontario Derby, is giving grass a try on Saturday, November 22, in the Grade 3 Commonwealth Turf at Churchill Downs.
Mansetti is trained by Kevin Attard and will again by ridden by Pietro Moran. The Plate hero drew post six in the 1 1/16 mile race which drew 11 entrants.
While Mansetti has never worked on the turf, he is by a sire, Collected, who won on turf and is a solid grass sire. Mansetti’s dam Gidget Girl is an unraced daughter of grass winner Surfer Girl (Brz).
Among the three-year-olds in the Commonwealth field is Donamire Farm’s Grade I-winning homebred Troubleshooting, who has won four of seven races this season and $1.7 million.
Troubleshooting, trained by Greg Foley, notched his career-defining Grade I victory in early September when he won the 6 ½-furlong Franklin Simpson (GI) at Kentucky Downs by a half-length under jockey Tyler Gaffalione. Following that race, Troubleshooting stretched out to one mile in the Bryan Station Stakes (GIII) at Keeneland where he scored a gutsy neck victory as the 7-2 favourite. A son of Not This Time, Troubleshooting is out of the stakes-winning mare Into Trouble, who was campaigned by Donamire Farm and trainer Ben Colebrook. Troubleshooting will once again have the riding services of Tyler Gaffalione for Saturday’s affair and break from post No. 2.
Other rivals in the race include Rocker O Ranch’s Secretariat Stakes (GII) winner Giocoso; Two Eight Racing, Berry Family Racing and Kaleta Racing’s Jeff Ruby Steaks (GIII) runner-up Flying Mohawk; and Aaron and Victoria Haberman’s John Battaglia Memorial (Listed) winner California Burrito.
The Commonwealth is race 10 at Churchill on Saturday with a post time of 5:25 p.m.
The field for the Commonwealth Turf from the rail out (with jockey and trainer):
California Burrito (Brian Hernandez Jr., Tommy Drury Jr.)
Troubleshooting (Gaffalione, Foley)
Montador (Luis Saez, Mike Stidham)
Anegada (Luan Machado, Mike Maker)
Outrunner (Jaime Torres, Jorge Duarte Jr.)
Mansetti (Moran, Attard)
Giocoso (Jose Ortiz, Keith Desormeaux)
Chapman’s Peak (Irad Ortiz Jr., Brad Cox)
Flying Mohawk (Joe Ramos, Whit Beckman)
Simulate (Julien Leparoux, Bill Mott)
Plensa (Florent Geroux, Rusty Arnold II)
~ with files from Churchill Downs media
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