River Seven misses King Edward, to target Nijinsky Stakes

ETOBICOKE, Ontario – While Tower of Texas ran on to victory in Sunday’s Grade 2 King Edward Stakes at Woodbine, a notable absentee from the race was River Seven, who finished third in the Grade 2 Connaught Cup on May 30.

River Seven was on track to start in the King Edward Stakes, but trainer Nick Gonzalez opted not to enter the 5-year-old son of Johannesburg after he trained unsatisfactorily in the days leading up to the race.

“He had a little setback in his training and wasn’t going to be 100 percent going into it, so we opted not to run,” Gonzalez said. “We put Eirigh in there and knew it was going to be a short field. [River Seven] didn’t have the best training day the day before entries, so that was the reason why we didn’t go.”

Assuming there are no further setbacks, Gonzalez said River Seven likely will start in the Grade 2, $200,000 Nijinsky Stakes over 1 1/8 miles on Woodbine’s turf course July 19.

“That’s what it’s looking like now,” he said. “We don’t want to get too far ahead of ourselves. We have to do a little fix, but we’ll keep him on schedule.”