For 20-year-old Woodbine apprentice jockey Pietro Moran, racing has always run in the family. Son of fellow Woodbine rider David Moran and former jockey Maria Moran, he says he can’t even remember his first time on a horse: “My parents probably had me on a horse before I could walk.”
Growing up watching his dad race, Moran says he always knew he wanted to follow in his footsteps. His version of “relaxing” was a little different than most kids. “I was always looking at entries, results, replays; watching videos of horse racing.”
His early entry into the sport, and pretty incredible record since then, has earned him a unique nickname from a Woodbine racing analyst: the “baby-faced bandit.”
His first official race took place when he was just 18, in September 2023 — and by June 2024, he had scored his first stakes race aboard Fashionably Fab (trained by the award-winning Kevin Attard). He also became the first rider to win $1 million in earnings at Toronto Woodbine Racetrack this year — less than a year after his back was broken and ribs fractured, narrowly missing his spinal cord, in a race.
Pietro also gets to regularly experience something on the track that not many people can claim: racing against his father.
“He beats me, I beat him. It’s all a lot of fun,” he says. “We definitely don’t take it for granted, and we root for each other all the time.”
One such father-son competition was last year’s King’s Plate, which saw Pietro finishing in fourth place. His plan for this year (the annual King’s Plate takes place on Saturday, Aug. 16)?
“Well, I’m hoping to win,” he says.
