MANO DURA (‘Iron Fist’) wore down 1-to-5 favourite HEROIC MOVE in the late stages of the 1 1/8 mile Manitoba Derby on Monday, August 7, taking the first leg of the Western Canadian Triple Crown by 4 1/4 lengths. The colt gave longtime owner Henry Witt, Jr. and trainer Jerry Gourneau their first Derby victory.
Mano Dura now has a chance to win the $100,000 bonus for winning all three races in the Western Canada Triple Crown. The second leg, the $200,000 Canadian Derby, goes to post in Edmonton on Aug. 26, and then the final leg, the $125,000 B.C. Derby, will be held at Hastings in Vancouver on Sept. 16.
Under a shrewd ride by Antonio Whitehall, who was also winning his first Manitoba Derby, Mano Dura was 15-to-1 in the nine-horse field for the 75th edition of the $125,000 race and stalked Heroic Move from just 2 1/2 lengths back early in the race. Heroic Move and Rico Walcott had a clear lead most of the way but late on the final turn, Whitehall angled Mano Dura off the fence and urged his colt past the tiring leader.
Mano Dura ran the distance in 1:51.87. Heroic Move, trained by Robertino Diodoro, a four-time Derby winner, was second and it was 5 1/2 lengths back to Eclipse Thoroughbreds’ Tshiebwe.
Mano Dura was claimed by Witt from breeder Calumet Farm on June 17 at Lone Star Park for $50,000. That day the colt finished second but he had won a Lone Star allowance race on May 28.
Antonito Whitehall celebrates with trainer Jerry Gourneau (right) and owner Henry S. Witt, Jr., (right) after riding Mano Dura to victory in the 75th Manitoba Derby race at Assiniboia Downs on Aug. 7, 2023. (J.Halstead / Assiniboia Photo)
In his Assiniboia Downs debut on July 25, Mano Dura competed in a non-winners of one ‘other than’ or non-winners of three or claiming $10,000 race and won by a half length under Prayven Badrie after a long drive.
The Manitoba Derby was the 4th win for the son of Keen Ice – Bene Pista by Bernardini from 14 starts. He has earned just over $169,000.
Witt, a former race car driver in Texas whose first horses raced in 2006, has maintained a large stable that races throughout North America. Many years he has had some 400 starts with his horses. Witt won 70 races in 2010, 69 races in 2020 and he won 49 races last year from 382 starters, 20th in North America. Overall, Witt has won 624 races from just over 5,000 starters.
Mano Dura is the second foal of unplaced Bene Pista and her dam, Carriage Trial, won the Spinster Stakes (G1). Bene Pista’s first foal, Dorita’s Happy is a winner and she has a two-year-old named High Track, a filly by Hightail, currently working at Monmouth.
Scott Taylor wrote for the website, ChrisD:
“Gourneau, who hails from Turtle Mountain Chippewa Nation in Belcourt, N.D., built his thoroughbred reputation right here in Winnipeg and became the first Indigenous trainer to win the Derby. He will also be the first to admit that a meeting with Witt not only solidified his career but also his entire racing business.
Henry Witt Jr. made his money in the auto glass business and by working his 800-acre Texas ranch. Back in the early 2000s, he was a giant of southern dirt-track auto racing who ran horses on the side. Today, he’s a giant of the thoroughbred racing industry, especially here in Winnipeg where his horses have long been among the best on the grounds. In fact, considering the number of quality horses he sends to Gourneau’s barn every spring, he might be the most important person in Manitoba’s racing industry today.
“I got lucky,” Gourneau said. “I struck it big by getting a client like Henry Witt Jr. We met about five years before we decided to run horses together. We met at Fonner Park (Nebraska). He was running a couple of horses in stakes races and we kind of clicked as friends and then one day he called me and said he had a couple of horses at Lone Star Park (Grand Prairie, Texas) and they were getting beat regularly. I told him, ‘Send them up here to Assiniboia Downs. I’m a horseman. I’ll take a look at them and see if we can get them running better.’ He sent me five horses and not long after we won six races. One of the horses won two.
“That’s when he said, ‘OK, I’m going to send you one of my better horses,’ and that’s when he sent me Witt Six. That’s where it really started. He won almost all of his races, ran second in the Manitoba Derby, second in the Canadian Derby and that sparked the closeness between Henry and I. Now, we’re like brothers, we talk so much.””
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