Mansetti co-owner is recovering from race-day heart attack

Bill Ulwelling, co-owner of King's Plate winner Mansetti, is recovering after having a heart attack en route to the Woodbine winner's circle to celebrate his horse's win in Canada's leading race for 3-year-old horses bred in the country.

According to an interview with his son Al Ulwelling on At the Races with Steve Byk, Al figured out something was wrong when he went to the winner's circle and his father was not there. Al co-owns Mansetti with his father.

"I'm out in the winner's circle and the EMS people are next to us, and I hear my last name. I kept looking and looking, and my wife was looking, and I heard my last name over the radio. Then I saw some commotion in the grandstand, and I'm like, 'This can't be good.' Here I am kissing the Plate, still worried about my father."

According to Al in the interview, his father had a heart attack on the way to the winner's circle, and his heart stopped five times. But he had a pacemaker, which kept him alive so medical personnel could get him stable. Al did not attend post-race interviews, instead joining his father at the hospital.

Al told Byk that his father is recovering well from the heart attack.

Mansetti, trained by Kevin Attard, was sent off at 18-1 odds in the Queen's Plate despite winning the Marine (G3) in his previous start June 28. Mansetti attended the early pace set by Scorching in the opening quarter, led for most of the race and held to win by 2 1/2 lengths over Tom's Magic. Attard now has won three of the last four editions of the King's Plate, and it was the first win in Canada's oldest race for the Ulwellings.