7-1 shot River Seven tracked a slow pace before accelerating away in the homestretch to break his maiden in the $200,000 Grey Stakes (gr. III) on Sunday at Woodbine by three-quarters of a length.
Ridden to victory by Eurico Da Silva, River Seven got off to a good start at the beginning of the 1 1/16th miles race and settled into second place as Five Iron led the way through slow fractions of :24.58 and :48.83 seconds. Heavily favored three-time stakes winner Uncaptured was racing in the third, position, followed closely by Mercenary and Tesseron. Indiano Jones was the trailer by a fairly substantial margin.
The positions remained relatively unchanged down the backstretch and around the far turn, but following three-quarters of a mile in 1:12.61, River Seven made his bid for the lead, drawing up alongside Five Iron and gradually drawing away to secure a half-length advantage passing the eighth pole. Uncaptured was attempting to rally in between horses, but lacked room and had to check behind River Seven inside the final furlong. Thus, Tesseron became the main threat to steal the victory from River Seven, but the latter colt proved game to the finish, holding off Tesseron's five-wide bid to win in good fashion, stopping the clock in 1:43.98 seconds.
Indiano Jones rallied well to finish a neck behind Tesseron in third, followed then by Five Iron, Uncaptured, and Mercenary. A claim of foul by the rider of Uncaptured against River Seven was not allowed.
River Seven is a gelded son of Johannesburg out of the Chester House mare Sans Souci Island. Owned by Tucci Stables and trained by Nicholas Gonzalez, River Seven has now compiled a record of 1-2-1 from 4 starts, with earnings of $206,864. He had previously finished second in the Vandal Stakes and third in the Clarendon Stakes, both of which were won by Uncaptured. In his final start prior to the Grey Stakes, he finished second to Tesseron in a maiden special weight.
-Keelerman
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