Al and Invoice Ulwelling skilled the highs and lows of life in a span of simply minutes: their 3-year-old colt Mansetti received the King’s Plate, the primary jewel of the Canadian Triple Crown, by 2 ½ lengths, and because the household headed to the winner’s circle, patriarch Invoice suffered a cardiac problem, reducing brief a celebration, his survival giving new that means to the phrase victory.
Transition From Fan to Proprietor
The Ulwellings, who personal A & B Welding & Development Inc. in Elk Lake, Minn., began their journey to the King’s Plate 40 years in the past on opening day at Canterbury Downs.
“My father simply liked betting on the horses after which, once I was just a little child, clearly, he would take me to Canterbury. We have been there opening day,” son Al remembered. “And ever since then, we might return to Canterbury to wager on the Kentucky Derby, Preakness, Belmont [Stakes]. After which we ended up assembly a man on the bar, a buddy of ours, who had a horse. And we, clearly, at that time, we had just a little bit of cash, and we needed to only get our toes moist, so to talk. And we purchased a horse at a bar.”
The pair purchased right into a horse with pal Bob Wizcek, a gelding named Diplomatic Storm, and although he by no means fairly discovered the winner’s circle, father and son managed to get pleasure from their first foray into possession.
“One time he ran, like, fourth place in Iowa [at Prairie Meadows] and I feel we obtained six-hundred bucks, roughly,” Ulwelling shared. “Then we drank that 600 on the bar. We have been simply so joyful that he ran fourth.”
Wizcek ultimately obtained out of racing, however the father-son duo stayed in, their firm’s success giving them the means to proceed to spend money on racing.
Over the subsequent twenty years, they expanded not solely their secure but additionally their bloodstock pursuits. The Ulwellings have about 30 horses in coaching, break up between strings in each Canada and the US, and a half-dozen broodmares at Winchester Equine in Kentucky. Every year, they breed their mares to Kentucky stallions after which ship them to foal in Ontario with a purpose to reap the benefits of the province’s profit applications. The King’s Plate is a kind of: the race is restricted to Canadian-bred -3-year-old Thoroughbreds, one other incentive for the homeowners to proceed sending their mares north.
“We do not breed to promote. We breed solely to race,” Ulwelling shared. As well as, the pair, together with bloodstock agent Clay Scherer, will store gross sales just like the Ocala Breeders’ Gross sales Co. Spring 2-year-olds in coaching sale and are lively claiming horses. “We’ll declare. We do take a look at the PPs each single day however simply have not seen quite a bit these days that appears actually good to us.”
Their Canadian string is entrusted to Kevin Attard, who broke Mark Casse’s string of 13 straight Sovereign Awards for excellent coach final yr. Attard’s banner 2024 season included a win within the Maker’s Mark Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Turf with Moira, who additionally gave the coach his first King’s Plate in 2022, and a win by Caitlinhergrtness within the King’s Plate. The Ulwellings’ American string is break up between Invoice Morey at Turfway Park in Kentucky and Gary Scherer at Honest Grounds in New Orleans. They obtained their begin at Canterbury Park close to their Minnesota house, however the pair prefers to race at Woodbine.
“The amenities are actually world-class,” Al Ulwelling stated. “You’ve a big outer turf course, an inside turf course, after which you may have the large observe with Tapeta [all-weather surface], which permits them to race from center of April till the top of December. And by that point, the horses are going to wish a break in any case.
“We had a sales space up at Canterbury, and we had one TV on at Woodbine on a regular basis, betting on it. I stored seeing these amenities and seeing how large it was. I caught on a couple of years earlier than I contacted Kevin. We have been profitable lots of races on the Midwest tracks. I stored seeing this identify up there, Attard, Attard, Attard,” he remembered. “He did not know me, and I did not know him – however seeing that he was getting some claimers and he was profitable with them, I believed, effectively, if we might simply get a couple of horses up there, we are able to watch them and handle them and nonetheless go to and stuff.
“Lengthy story brief, I referred to as Kevin after we ran a horse referred to as Pumpkin Rumble up there. I stated, ‘Hey, Kevin, my identify is Al.’ And I feel he thought that I wasn’t severe or one thing as a result of I did not hear from him for a few weeks. Then he referred to as me again and goes, ‘Oh, I suppose you weren’t kidding.’ And that is how we began with Kev. After the primary or second yr up there, we knew that we needed to run within the largest races up there as a result of that is what we did at Canterbury.”
The partnership between Attard and the Ulwellings has been a fruitful one. Collectively, they’ve received two Prince of Wales Stakes, the center jewel of the Canadian Triple Crown at Fort Erie, with Haddassah in 2021 and with Velocitor in 2023. The homeowners’ graded stakes wins have additionally include Attard: Pumpkin Rumble took the Grade Valedictory Stakes in 2018 and 2019, and Shakopee City received the Grade 3 Whimsical Stakes in 2019. Mansetti gave them one other graded stakes win in June within the HPIbet Marine Stakes at Woodbine and his victory within the King’s Plate Aug. 16 is the workforce’s highest profile win so far — the reminiscence of the highs and lows of that day linger as they give the impression of being towards the Prince of Wales Sept. 9.
A Day to Keep in mind
The Ulwellings had not instantly pegged Mansetti, a son of Collected out of the Sky Mesa mare Gidget Lady, as a King’s Plate contender. Bred by Jim Rome’s Jungle Racing and foaled in Ontario, he was a part of Eddie Woods’ consignment on the 2024 OBS Spring 2-year-olds in coaching sale, the place Clay Scherer noticed him and recognized the colt as a candidate for the Ulwellings.
“We preferred him. We preferred his work. We preferred all the pieces about him,” the youthful Ulwelling shared. “And Clay gave me a goal worth, and we obtained him for $40,000.”
They gave their new acquisition a reputation that was close to and pricey to them: Mansetti. “Mansetti’s is a pizza place by our home. My spouse and I’ve 4 children, and to get her out of the home, if I might sense that she wanted just a little break, she and I might go to Mansetti’s for an hour,” he shared. “When you may have lots of horses, it will get onerous to call them. So, we all the time attempt to identify them after one thing we like. And we like Mansetti’s and their pizza, and that is how he ended up with the identify.”
At 2, the colt received his six-furlong debut in late September after which took the Clarendon Stakes in his third begin. To begin his 3-year-old season, Attard shipped him to Aqueduct for Mansetti’s first attempt on the dust.
“We thought he was a very good horse, so we despatched him out to the Jerome [Stakes], to Aqueduct. He was coaching very well after which when he ran [fifth] within the Jerome, we’re thought, ‘This can be a dash horse.’ He will not be a Plate horse, so let’s simply put him away. Let’s deal with Woodbine within the spring after which get him going,” Ulwelling recalled.
Returning to the Tapeta all-weather floor after his unplaced end within the Jerome, Mansetti then received the listed Woodstock Stakes at six furlongs.
“I am like, Kev, nonetheless assume he is only a sprinter? As a result of he received fairly straightforward.”
Two begins later, Mansetti received the Marine Stakes by a size at 1 1/16 miles.
“After that race, I stated, ‘Kev, let’s simply take a shot. We talked concerning the Plate Trial [Stakes], however then he needed six weeks to only prepare proper as much as the [King’s] Plate. We needed a contemporary horse with as a lot air into him to go so far as he can as a result of we knew he was tactically quick. He is already displaying that. That is when Kevin began coaching him and liking him increasingly. And clearly, he simply peaked on the proper time.”
The Ulwellings entered Mansetti and Faber, their gelding by Unbelievable, for the 1 ¼-mile King’s Plate.
“We felt like Faber had zero drawback getting the gap, and he had had some actually tough journeys. So, we knew {that a}) he might get the gap, however b) he wanted the fitting journey,” the proprietor shared. “And we felt like Mansetti, the mile and 1 / 4 was going to be questionable.”
However Attard’s father, fellow coach Tino, picked the Collected colt over his stablemate and advised the Ulwellings that the morning of the Plate.
“I by no means even obtained an opportunity to ask him if he wagered on him,” Al laughed.
Watching the race from the winner’s circle, Al Ulwelling and spouse Gabriella “noticed :23.47 [for the opening quarter-mile], and I am pondering, ‘We’re not even going to get a chunk of this.’ I stated, Faber goes to come back as a result of he can run all day. So, I began in search of Faber pondering Mansetti was probably going to cease nearly. Then I see the 1:12, and he was nonetheless kicking on, and [jockey] Pietro [Moran] actually wasn’t asking a lot. And I began yelling for Mansetti. He stunned us.
“He is a extremely enjoyable horse to have. I feel he is getting good. He is getting higher each race.”
Proper for the time being that the Ulwellings have been hitting a traditional excessive, life interceded. As Al and Gabriella headed towards the winner’s circle, they have been in search of father Invoice, who was nowhere to be discovered.
“I used to be making an attempt to carry them up for my father. I believed perhaps he was simply speaking to anyone. After which my spouse obtained a name on her telephone from our pal. After which I heard our final identify over the EMS guys’ walkie-talkie. And I am like, this cannot be good.”
As he headed down the steps to Woodbine’s apron to hitch the festivities within the winner’s circle, the elder Ulwelling had a coronary heart assault, his pacemaker jolting his coronary heart sufficient to maintain it beating as paramedics attended to him. They have been in a position to stabilize him for a trip to an area hospital. As soon as they returned house to the Minneapolis space, “his hospital, his heart specialist, referred to as him and stated, ‘We have to see you instantly. You are fortunate to be alive. Your coronary heart stopped beating 5 occasions.’
“My father has {an electrical} problem along with his coronary heart, and it is occurred earlier than,” Al defined. “After we received the Prince of Wales, that is when he had his main problem along with his coronary heart. That is when he obtained that [pacemaker] put in. Then we went to the [King’s] Plate, and it occurred once more. So no extra reside racing for him till they get a very good repair on that.”
With their patriarch on the mend, the Ulwellings are counting down the times till Mansetti and Faber compete within the 1 3/16-mile Prince of Wales Stakes on Sept. 9. After an eventful King’s Plate, the youthful Ulwelling is wanting ahead to a extra predictable – if one can name a Canadian Triple Crown traditional such – day at Fort Erie.
“It’ll be a enjoyable day, I feel. Each of our horses are wholesome, and we get one other probability to do it. I feel Faber goes to run actually good. Like Mansetti, he is my favourite horse proper now, however I feel Faber is doing effectively, so I am excited for it.”
The American father-son tandem has discovered success on the highest degree at our northern neighbor’s racetracks, and the household appears to be like to proceed that for years to come back.
“We have gotten fortunate up there, that is for certain,” Al Ulwelling stated. “The nice factor is, is we will hold the pedal down and attempt to win extra of them.”
Ideally, with everybody joyful and wholesome and collectively within the winner’s circle.
