Mansetti, Runaway Again get rubber match in Ontario Derby
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ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Saturday’s Grade 3 Ontario Derby at Woodbine will be the rubber match between Mansetti and Runaway Again, and the 1 1/8-mile Tapeta event could help determine Canadian champion male 3-year-old honors.
Mansetti won the opening leg of the Canadian Triple Crown in front-running style in August, the $1 million King’s Plate, while leaving the inexperienced Runaway Again well behind in 10th.
When they clashed over another inside-biased track in the Prince of Wales Stakes on the dirt at Fort Erie, Runaway Again turned the tables on Mansetti, who led until the final strides. Both bypassed the Breeders’, the anchor Triple Crown race on turf, and are coming into the $150,000 Ontario Derby off a little break.
Trainer Sid Attard was content with the way Runaway Again breezed a half-mile in 48 seconds last Saturday with Ryan Munger up. Munger was aboard for the gelding’s 9 1/4-length debut victory in July and then rode another rival in the Plate before regaining mount in the Prince of Wales.
“I told him to go an easy half,” Attard said. “We didn’t need him to do too much. He’s doing really good. He’s not a big horse, but he can eat.”
Attard believes that Runaway Again can handle any surface with aplomb.
“I don’t think he cares where he runs,” Attard said. “[Munger] knows him good. He works him all the time. I wish he would have rode him in the Plate. He knows when to let him run.”
Sid Attard’s nephew, Kevin Attard, won the Plate for the third time in the last four years with Mansetti, who was dismissed at 18-1 in the race despite capturing the Grade 3 Marine in late June. The live rail was left open for him heading into the first turn of the 1 1/4-mile Tapeta route. Apprentice Pietro Moran took the inside path and never looked back to score by 2 1/2 lengths over the future Breeders’ winner Tom’s Magic.
Mansetti was hounded up front in the Sept. 9 Prince of Wales before opening up a clear lead on the far turn, only to come up a half-length short while earning a career high 90 Beyer Speed Figure.
“He’s doing well,” Kevin Attard said. “We freshened him up after the Prince of Wales. He’s had a couple of easy [works] since.”
He’s Not Joking, Canada’s reigning champion male 2-year-old, was on the early road to the Kentucky Derby when posting double-digit losses in both the Grade 3 Holy Bull and Grade 3 Jeff Ruby Steaks. He has worked encouragingly for his return from a seven-month layoff and is adding Lasix.
Borealis Trail went from his maiden special weight win on the grass to the 1 1/2-mile Breeders’ on Sept. 28 and ran lights-out, losing by a head after favored Tom’s Magic held him at bay in the final furlong.
Trainer Mark Casse entered Special Session and the supplemented Pretty Capable. Rounding out the field is another longshot, Wagstaff.
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