As Mansetti charged to the finish line of the 166th King’s Plate at Woodbine, it marked a pinnacle moment for owners Al and Bill Ulwelling, the father-and-son team from Elk River, Minnesota, who joined the Canadian racing scene in 2017.
The Plate was the race they dearly wanted to win and it was the race Al wanted his father to win.
So when young jockey Pietro Moran, still an apprentice, guided Mansetti to a 2 1/2 length front-running win in the Plate on August 16, Al was screaming with joy.
He marched out across the turf into the winner’s circle before he suddenly heard his last name come across the in-house radios.
Bill had collapsed on the track apron from a heart attack. Luckily, his pacemaker kicked in and saved his life.
Al raced back to the grandstand where EMT workers were examining Bill and getting him ready to go to the hospital.
“It was the highest of the highs and the lowest of the lows,” said Al. As Bill was being loaded into an ambulance, he yelled at friends to grab his tickets – he had wagered quite a few dollars on Mansetti.
Everything ended well, with Bill being released from the hospital later than evening and Al being available for press conferences.
“At least my Dad got to see him win,” said Al. “We’re just going to have to win another one now.”
Mansetti, a dark bay Ontario-bred son of Kentucky stallion Collected from the mare Gidget Girl by Sky Mesa, is the third Plate winner trained by Kevin Attard in the last four years. Attard, who won his first Sovereign Award for Outstanding Trainer for his 2024 season, set out a plan for the speedy Mansetti to learn how to relax this year after being a bit of of a one dimensional front runner as a two-year-old.
The colt won the Clarendon Stakes at six furlongs last fall, on the pace, before a New York experiment went sideways. A scheduled start in the Jerome Stakes on a traditional dirt track did not work out for Mansetti, who landed fifth, beaten more than 25 lengths.
Attard brought the colt back to Ontario and the training farm in Caledon East he uses to prepare his winter horses.
Equipped with new black earmuffs that make his ears stick out sideways from his head, Mansetti won the six furlong Woodstock Stakes and then he had a messy journey when fifth in the Queenston Stakes to Notorious Gangster. He went into the two-turn Marine Stakes (G3) as a 5-to-1 chance and drew off in a solid manner.
Attard elected to train Mansetti, who is named after a favourite pizza and pasta restaurant of the Ulwellings in Minnesota, for the 49 days leading up to the 1 1/4 mile Plate.
“Kevin has loved this horse from day one,” said Al, who admitted the distance was the big question mark. Bought by the Ulwellings through agent Clay Scherer from the Ocala Breeders’ Sales April Two-Year-Old in Training Sale in 2024, Mansetti was born and raised on David Anderson’s Anderson Farms, but bred by Jim Rome’s Jungle Racing.
When Plate day arrived, Mansetti had nearly been forgotten about by most handicappers, who landed on Notorious Gangster and Woodbine Oaks winner No Time. But it was evident early in the running of the Plate that stretch runners were going to have a hard time running down Mansetti.
Slow pace wins race
Scorching broke smoothly and was eager to go the lead, but he was eventually reined back by Jose Lezcano. Mansetti and Moran were easily on the pace inside of Scorching, while the filly No Time was soon to be in traffic trouble around the first turn and appeared to not settle.
Tom’s Magic had a stutter-step start, scrambled in the early going while trying to get hold of the surface, according to jockey Rafael Hernandez, and was well off the pace into the first turn.
The first quarter, 22.93 (almost :23)Â was not as fast as most made it out to be, since the entire distance was run on a straightaway. By the time Mansetti, who was an overlay at a whopping 18-to-1, got to the first four furlongs, he had gone almost 25 seconds for the second quarter.
“I was blown away no one went with [Mansetti early],” said Al. “Pietro did exactly what Kevin asked; he had the lead and came off the rail a bit.”
You could see riders taking a hold of their mounts, preserving them to ensure they have something left for the stretch run of the 1 1/4 mile race. Sofia Vives on Mythical Man had a snug hold on her 61-to-1 mount and that caused Fraser Aebly on Notorious Gangster to steady off her heels.
As Mansetti cruised into the final turn in 1:12.48, Scorching tracked in second, Dewolf had been wide and stalking in third, Notorious Gangster had dropped six lengths back and Tom’s Magic lost a ton of ground, so much so that he never received a call from track announcer Robert Geller.
The race was over by the turn for home, essentially. Mansetti scampered clear while the others were under hard scrubs. Hernandez and American invader Tom’s Magic, inside and almost last, moved out five wide into the stretch and suddenly the colt surged. But his fast rally was too late; he was second by 2 1/2 lengths. Notorious Gangster fought hard to get third and Scorching held fourth over Dewolf.
The final two furlongs of 26.90 (26 4/5) weren’t very quick and the final time was adjusted after the race to a modest 2:03.68.
The Plate win, the first for the Ulwellings and jockey Moran, was part of a $16.9 million wagering day at Woodbine.
The Ulwellings, leading owners at Canterbury Downs about a decade ago, ran Pumpkin Rumble in a stakes race at Woodbine in 2017, as they had become enamored with watching the track’s races.
“We couldn’t make money even as leading owners at Canterbury,” said Al. “I remember one time we won $700 for a horse that ran fourth at Prairie Meadows for us and our bar tab that night was $700.”
Father and son have had immediate success at Woodbine with Attard. There was Prince of Wales winner Haddassah, a gelding they bred in Ontario, in 2021 and another ‘Wales winner, Velocitor, in 2023.
The Ulwellings, who own A & B Welding and Construction in Elk River, foal their mares at Glenn Sikura’s Hill ‘n’ Dale Farm.
“We have worked on getting better mares. They are bred by Kentucky stallions, foal in Canada and then go back to Kentucky. We are also at looking at breeding more to Ontario stallions.”
While the Plate victory finally came for the Ulwellings, but didn’t get celebrated the way they had hoped, they have the solution for that.
“We’re just going to have to win another one.”
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