The Sport’s Hottest Bug Takes Aim at the King’s Plate

[Wandering Eyes]

TORONTO – He is young, just 20, has been riding for only two full years and still has his five-pound apprentice allowance. But don't expect Pietro Moran to be intimidated when he climbs aboard Mansetti (Collected) in Saturday's $1-million King's Plate at Woodbine. It's nothing new to him. Though he's not allowed an apprentice allowance in stakes races, he's ridden in 30 so far this year. On Saturday's card, there are six stakes. Moran has mounts in four of them.

“I definitely have a lot of confidence in him,” said Mansetti's trainer Kevin Attard. “Pietro worked for us for maybe three years before he took out his license. So I got a chance to know him pretty well. From day one, he's shown a lot of confidence. He's very mature for his age and just a very good student of the game.”

Moran is the son of journeyman rider David Moran, who also has a mount in the race, on William T (Frosted). It is the first time that a father and son have ridden against one another in the King's Plate. It will be the second King's Plate mount for Pietro, who finished fourth last year with Pierre (Tapiture).

“My dad has been a huge influence on me,” Pietro said. “Just to grow up alongside him, he's been helping me and guiding me every step of the way and points me in the right direction. He's never allowed me to put a bad step forward. I'm very lucky to have my dad's help. We are both competitive. We want to kick each other's butt every time.”

Pietro always wanted to be a jockey.

“I probably couldn't even talk yet to tell everybody I wanted to be a jockey,” he said. “That's how long I've wanted to be a rider. I always wanted to be a jockey. I've always loved the horses and loved the game.”

Moran started riding in 2023 and won just four races that year. He was in the midst of a successful season last year when he was injured at Fort Erie on Sept. 10. He had 62 wins at the time.

It was a precursor of what was to become. Entering Friday's card at Woodbine, he led all jockeys with 65 wins. Rafael Hernandez and Sahin Civaci were tied for second with 57 winners each.

'We've ridden him a lot and have been successful together,” Attard said. “It's been a good relationship and he's a great individual.”

Most Ontario-based trainers would agree. Leading trainer Mark Casse has teamed up with Moran for five winners. In Saturday's stakes Moran will have mounts for Attard and Martin Drexler and two for Casse. He's getting the kind of opportunities that are almost unheard of for an apprentice.

“I've had a lot of good opportunities,” Moran said. “I'm very thankful  for all the opportunities I'm getting to not only ride a lot of races but to ride in stakes races. It just goes to show that trainers are okay with using me. I try to work hard every day and do my best and I'm being rewarded with the opportunity to ride in these big races.”

Moran has set four goals for this year. He will be the champion Canadian apprentice and he also hopes to win an Eclipse Award as the top bug boy in North America and finish the year as the leading jockey in the Woodbine standings. All three are within reach. The fourth is to win the King's Plate.

The King's Plate is a wide-open race that drew 13 entrants. Mansetti, who is 10-1 in the morning line, is coming off a win in the GIII Marine Stakes and has won two other stakes.

“The biggest question for him is the mile-and-a-quarter, but he's got a lot of talent,” Moran said. “He's the only three times stakes winner in the field and the only graded stakes winner in the race. Once he gets a clean trip and is able to settle, he'll give it his best to the wire.”

Moran, who loses his bug on Jan. 6, has yet to decide where he will ride this winter after the Woodbine meet is over. Many believe that he is destined to become a top rider in the U.S.

'I would definitely love to ride in the States and try to become one of those big-name riders that go around the country and ride the best horses and ride in Group Is,” he said.

A win in the King's Plate might move him closer to the goal, but there will be plenty of other opportunities along the way. Kazushi Kimura took a similar path, dominating while he had the bug and winning the Woodbine riding title in 2021, 2022 and 2023. He is now a regular on the Southern California circuit. Easily the most promising rider to come out of Canada since Kimura, Moran's long-term goals could easily be reached.

“You could tell early on with Pietro that he had the recipe to be very successful,” said Attard. “This is only the beginning of what his future holds.”

 

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