Woodbine Mile: Riding the River may be a live longshot

ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Dave Cotey is rolling the dice with Riding the River.

Cotey, who purchased Riding the River for $3,500 at the Fasig-Tipton October yearling sale of 2008, will be looking to add a lucrative chapter to the rags-to-riches story in Sunday’s $1 million Woodbine Mile.

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And Riding the River, who also is co-owned by Cotey and already has banked $234,867, is not without a chance in the Grade 1 Woodbine Mile, a turf race for 3-year-olds and upward.

That assessment is based on his last start here Aug. 28 when Riding the River finished a closing second in the seven-furlong Play the King, a Grade 2 turf race which is the major local prep for the Woodbine Mile.

“I think a mile will definitely be his best distance,” said Cotey. “His best race as a 3-year-old was at a mile and a sixteenth, against older horses.

“He’s run three times on the grass, and every time he ran he got in all sorts of trouble. He’ll be running on at the end, and he’s overdue to have a clean trip. Whether he’s good enough remains to be seen. The competition is tough; there are no easy horses in there.”

Riding the River had his final tune-up for the Woodbine Mile here last Sunday, breezing five furlongs on the main track in 1:02.60.

“We don’t train him real hard,” said Cotey. “He’s coming into the race the same way he comes into every other race. He runs hard in the afternoon. He’s always out there trying.”

Richard Dos Ramos, who has been aboard Riding the River in six of his 11 career outings and in four of his five appearances this year, retains the mount.