River Seven captures Grey Stakes as 7-1 underdog

• River Seven jumps to a tie at the top of the Kentucky Derby points list with 10
• Uncaptured was running in a race with two turns for the first time
• Uncaptured's jockey claimed interference against River Seven, but was disallowed

TORONTO -- Uncaptured had never been defeated. River Seven had never won.

Neither followed the script in the $224,800 Grey Stakes at Woodbine, one of only three races outside the United States offering points toward a starting berth in the Kentucky Derby next May.

River Seven staged a major upset to win the race by three-quarters of a length, while Uncaptured, a heavy favorite at 2-5 odds, defeated only one horse to finish fifth.

The loss put a wrinkle in the future plans of Uncaptured, which had been made the future book co-favorite to win the 2013 Kentucky Derby by the Wynn Las Vegas race and sports book after scoring four consecutive wins over Woodbine's Polytrack

It means the powerfully built colt will not go to the Breeders' Cup next month at Santa Anita Park in Arcadia, Calif., although trainer Mark Casse said he'll regroup, send the horse to his stable at Churchill Downs and see if the footing at the home of the Kentucky Derby agrees with him. He may get a start in the Kentucky Jockey Club Stakes. The Grey's first four finishers got 10-4-2-1 points, respectively.

Uncaptured earned no qualifying points for the Derby in the new system adopted to determine the field, after Churchill officials scrapped the previous system of graded stakes earnings.

River Seven earned 10 points for his victory, and Woodbine trainer Nick Gonzalez only recently became aware that the race carried more rewards than the purse money.

"I'm going to do my best to keep the owners from getting caught up in that kind of thing," Gonzalez said of Tucci Stable. "(River Seven) is an Ontario-bred and they really have a Queen's Plate dream. And that's very special for (wife and training partner) Martha and I as well. That really is our main goal."

River Seven survived a claim of interference from Patrick Husband, the jockey of Uncaptured who claimed his robust colt was squeezed during the stretch run. The stewards disallowed the claim.
"He got bothered late," Casse said. "But he was already beaten. It's disappointing. But when you go around two turns for the first time, it's a different world, no matter how good you do things before.

"Uncaptured hadn't won at distances farther than seven furlongs and the Grey was run at 1 1/16th miles.

Uncaptured also carried seven pounds more than his five opponents, the price he paid for winning three consecutive stakes races, all at Woodbine. Casse said Uncaptured remained at Woodbine during his career mainly because the Grey Stakes carried Derby points this year.

The Grey Stakes has been a springboard for many good Canadian stakes winners. Macho Uno won in 2000 and won the Breeders' Cup Juvenile, while Sunny's Halo won the 1983 Kentucky Derby and Mine that Bird the 2009 Derby after scoring in the Grey Stakes.