{"id":504167,"date":"2025-10-16T12:46:18","date_gmt":"2025-10-16T12:46:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/504167\/"},"modified":"2025-10-16T12:46:18","modified_gmt":"2025-10-16T12:46:18","slug":"2025-ontario-derby-at-a-glance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/504167\/","title":{"rendered":"2025 Ontario Derby at a Glance"},"content":{"rendered":"

Three-year-olds take center stage in Saturday\u2019s Grade 3 Ontario Derby<\/a> at Woodbine<\/a>. The race usually draws a mix of Ontario-bred and U.S.-bred colts and geldings and that\u2019s the case this year, with a field headlined by upset King\u2019s Plate winner Mansetti<\/a>. The race will be televised on FanDuel TV.<\/p>\n

1. He\u2019s Not Joking<\/a>:<\/strong> Was on the Kentucky Derby Presented by Woodford Reserve<\/a> trail last spring but hasn\u2019t raced since finishing 11th of 12 March 22 in the Jeff Ruby Steaks<\/a> at Turfway Park<\/a>. Excelled on Woodbine\u2019s Tapeta Footings all-weather surface to start off his career with two wins including a Grade 3 at 1 1\/16 miles. If he returns off of the nearly seven-month layoff in that form, he\u2019s a threat.<\/p>\n

JOCKEY:<\/strong> Fraser Aebly<\/a>; TRAINER:<\/strong> Josie Carroll<\/a><\/p>\n

2. Mansetti<\/a>:<\/strong> Led from start to finish to win Canada\u2019s most prestigious race, the King\u2019s Plate, two starts back. He then was game racing on dirt in the second leg of the nation\u2019s Triple Crown, the Prince of Wales Stakes, nearly holding on for the win but yielding late to Runaway Again and settling for second. Now, he\u2019s back on his preferred surface and should have the advantage over his classic-series rival.<\/p>\n

JOCKEY:<\/strong> Pietro Moran<\/a>; TRAINER:<\/strong> Kevin Attard<\/a><\/p>\n

3. Pretty Capable<\/a>:<\/strong> Ships up from New York off of a fourth-place effort in a one-mile dirt race at Saratoga<\/a> in July that was rained off the turf. All of his career starts have been on dirt, although his pedigree suggests he should handle an all-weather surface and the distance should be no problem.<\/p>\n

JOCKEY:<\/strong> Eswan Flores<\/a>; TRAINER:<\/strong> Mark Casse<\/a><\/p>\n

4. Runaway Again<\/a>:<\/strong> Was no threat in the King\u2019s Plate, finishing 10th of 13 behind runaway winner Mansetti, but then rallied late in the 1 3\/16-mile Prince of Wales Stakes on dirt last month to edge that foe by a half-length. He\u2019s back on Mansetti\u2019s favored surface but has shown more than enough in his brief career (including a blowout maiden win on this track) to merit respect.<\/p>\n

JOCKEY:<\/strong> Ryan Munger<\/a>; TRAINER:<\/strong> Sid Attard<\/a><\/p>\n

5. Borealis Trail<\/a>:<\/strong> After showing little in his first three starts, he relished a switch from all-weather to turf and won a one-mile maiden race at Woodbine before nearly capturing the third leg of Canada\u2019s Triple Crown, the 1 \u00bd-mile Breeders\u2019 Stakes, Sept. 28 at Woodbine. Wheels back on short rest and to his less-favored surface.<\/p>\n

JOCKEY:<\/strong> Jose Campos<\/a>; TRAINER:<\/strong> Rachel Halden<\/a><\/p>\n

6. Wagstaff<\/a>:<\/strong> Another contender who seems to prefer turf to all-weather as two of his three career victories have come on grass, and his all-weather win was in a race washed off that surface. Did not show much in his lead-in race when fifth in the one-mile Toronto Cup on turf but won three in a row prior to that and gets the services of an ace Woodbine jockey for the first time. Could provide some pace pressure to Mansetti.<\/p>\n

JOCKEY:<\/strong> Rafael Hernandez<\/a>; TRAINER:<\/strong> Nathan Squires<\/a><\/p>\n

7. Special Session<\/a>:<\/strong> Is 2-for-4 lifetime on Woodbine\u2019s all-weather track and will return to that surface after a no-show effort on turf when ninth in the Toronto Cup. He\u2019s a deep closer and will need a fast pace to set up his rally, which he might not get.<\/p>\n

JOCKEY:<\/strong> Patrick Husbands<\/a>; TRAINER:<\/strong> Mark Casse<\/a><\/p>\n

THE PICK:<\/strong> Mansetti<\/a><\/p>\n

LIVE LONGSHOT:<\/strong> Wagstaff<\/a><\/p>\n

SUPERFECTA:<\/strong> 2-6-4-1<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Three-year-olds take center stage in Saturday\u2019s Grade 3 Ontario Derby at Woodbine. The race usually draws a mix…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":504168,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4107],"tags":[1071,79,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-504167","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-racing","8":"tag-racing","9":"tag-sports","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115383919212629680","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/504167","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=504167"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/504167\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/504168"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=504167"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=504167"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=504167"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}