Riding the River, under a masterful ride by Todd Kabel, was steered through a traffic jam at the quarter-pole before powering home a neck winner in Sunday’s Grade 2 $322,200 Nijinsky Stakes, at Woodbine.
The five-year-old bay gelding, blocked behind the trio of Kara’s Orientation, Pender Harbour and Imagining in the stretch run, was neatly nipped to the rail en route to a second graded score on the trot.
Riding the River, who arrived in the Nijinsky off a win in the Grade 2 King Edward Stakes, saved all the ground in the nine-furlong turf tilt as Kara’s Orientation led the field through a half in :48.25.