River Seven Gets Acid Test in Donn

When River Seven surged past Csaba in the Gulfstream Park stretch to post a going-away four length victory in the $100,000 Harlan’s Holiday, it was an eye-opening, perhaps career-changing, performance.            

Already acknowledged as a graded-stakes quality turf runner, a reputation punctuated by a triumph in the Commonwealth Turf (G3) at Churchill Downs in his previous outing, River Seven ran the race of his career, at least by speed-figure standards, on Gulfstream’s main track while dominating the defending Harlan’s Holiday champion.            

The 4-year-old son of Johannesburg, who finished second in the Prince of Wales Stakes at Fort Erie in his only previous start on dirt, impressed his trainer Nick Gonzalez so much that his primary target for his Ontario-bred gelding became the $500,000 Donn Handicap at Gulfstream on Feb. 9.            

River Seven, who was also nominated for the $300,000 Gulfstream Park Turf Handicap (G1) on Feb. 9, is being pointed for a clash with Will Take Charge, the 2013 Eclipse Award-winning Will Take Charge, in the 1 1/8-mile Donn.            

“If you think you’re a good horse and you want to be one of the best horses around, those are the kind of horses you have to run against, if you think you’re good enough. I think he is. We’ll have to wait until Feb. 9 to find out,” Gonzalez said. “Whoever shows up isn’t going to change our plans. This has been in our plans since he won the Harlan’s Holiday. A lot of people make a big deal about who’s coming, but you have to pay attention to your horse and get him right. That’s what you have to worry about, not someone else’s horse.”            

Plans to breeze River Seven Thursday morning were scrapped due to the sloppy track condition.            

“We were going to breeze him this morning, but obviously we cancelled it. We probably won’t get to it tomorrow the way it looks, so we’ll get to it probably Saturday,” said Gonzalez, whose 4-year-old gelding is likely to breeze five furlongs. “I probably would have like to do it a few days out from a week to eight days before the race, but it’s not really a problem. It’s not like he has to go out there and do something special. He’s a fit horse. He just needs a little tuner-upper.”            

River Seven, who’ll be ridden again by Joe Rocco Jr., has pleased his trainer with his training since the Harlan’s Holiday.            

“I’m not saying he’s better, but he definitely is doing just as good,” Gonzalez said. “He’s a hearty, robust horse, a good feeling horse, very, very easy horse to train.”