Susie Raisher Photo

Northern Invader surges to victory in $135K Gio Ponti

by Keith McCalmont

Northern Invader, confidently handled by Jose Ortiz, posted a one-length score over Ohana Honor to top a West Point Thoroughbreds co-owned exacta in Friday’s $135,000 Gio Ponti, a one-mile inner turf test for sophomores, at Belmont at the Big A.

Trained by Cherie DeVaux, the Collected chestnut, owned by West Point Thoroughbreds and David Ingordo, made an early move to the lead down the backstretch and never looked back to secure his first career stakes win.

“It was an opportunity to improve position without using my horse, and I always want to do that,” Ortiz said. “He’s very nice, very professional. Cherie has done an amazing job since she went on her own. I’m very happy that I won for her.”

City Fever led the field past the wire for the first time with Northern Invader to his outside and 4-5 mutuel favorite Appraise tracking in fourth to the outside of Bat Flip and Ohana Honor in last-of-5 through an opening quarter-mile in 23.74 seconds over the firm footing.

Ortiz gave Northern Invader his cue as the field turned into the backstretch and was immediately in command with City Fever content to stalk from second. Bat Flip made an early move up the rail to come on even terms with City Fever through a half-mile in 47.65 with Northern Invader still in charge and traveling comfortably.

Manny Franco asked Appraise for his best run late in the turn but the dual graded stakes-placed Irish-bred failed to fire as Ohana Honor circled wide around his rivals and took aim at the leader. Northern Invader opened up by 3 1/2-lengths at the stretch call with a game Ohaha Honor giving chase, but there was no reeling in the winner who stopped the clock in a final time of 1:35.25. Ohana Honor completed the exacta by seven lengths over Bat Flip with City Fever and Appraise rounding out the order of finish. Main-track only entrant Army Times was scratched.

DeVaux's assistant and sister Adrianne DeVaux said she was pleased with the effort from the improving chestnut.

“It took him quite a bit to mature into himself and now that we finally have him going, he’s proving that all the waiting was worth it," DeVaux said. "It was a great move by Jose to decide what he was going to do when the pace wasn’t as fast as he thought it was going to be. It showed a new dimension to his running style. He’s shown [the ability to fight off challenges] in his races and works a lot. Whenever he has a horse in front of him or next to him, you see he digs in a little bit harder.

“This is awesome," DeVaux added. "Everyone’s been really high on this horse, especially after he ran decent, big numbers on dirt and then the number he did on turf. Doing it the way he did and to have that backed up with this is really great.”

Northern Invader made his first two starts on dirt at Churchill Downs, finishing second on both occasions. He made the move to turf on July 1 at Belmont Park and responded with a tremendous turn-of-foot to draw away to an eight-length score in a one-mile maiden special weight. Last out, Northern Invader endured a troubled trip when fifth, defeated 2 3/4-lengths by the victorious Gigante in the one-mile Grade 2 Secretariat on August 12 at Colonial Downs.

Ortiz, aboard Northern Invader for the first time, said he was impressed with how his colt responded.

“He’s a nice horse and I think the last race, it was pretty tough at Colonial. It was a relief in the quality of horses he was going to face [here] and so I rode him with confidence,” Ortiz said. “Cherie and Adrianne told me the horse was doing very good and I just let him be happy. I didn’t want to fight him too much and he put his ears up on the backside and was very relaxed. I’m happy we got the win.”

Ohana Honor, trained by Hall of Famer Shug McGaughey for West Point Thoroughbreds, Woodford Racing and Edward Hudson, Jr., entered from a rallying four-length allowance score last month at Colonial. Returning rider Kendrick Carmouche said it was hard for his late-running charge to make up ground over the inner turf.

“I would say he would appreciate more ground,” Carmouche said. “It’s kind of hard to win from last. But my horse showed a lot of potential coming from that far off and got beat by a good horse.”

Tom Bellhouse, Executive VP for West Point Thoroughbreds, said he was proud of the efforts from both horses.

“It was a good feeling, no question. Both horses ran huge,” Bellhouse said. “Northern Invader bounced back from the effort down in Virginia and really showed his true form. Ohana Honor is a horse on the come up for us. I think Shug has really figured him out, it’s taken some time and I think he’ll be a horse that makes some noise when we go down to Florida for the winter.”

Bred in Ontario by Anderson Farms Ont. Inc. and Peter Berglar Racing Interests, Northern Invader, a $310,000 purchase at the OBS March Sale of 2-Year-Olds In Training, banked $74,250 in victory while improving his record to 5-2-2-0. He returned $6.30 for a $2 win bet.

Live racing resumes Saturday at Belmont at the Big A with a lucrative 11-race card featuring the Grade 1, $500,000 Joe Hirsch Turf Classic, the Grade 3, $500,000 Jockey Club Derby Invitational and two Grade 1 “Win and You’re In” qualifiers at one-mile for juveniles in the $500,000 Champagne [Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile] and $400,000 Frizette [Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies]. Saturday’s stacked program is supported by the Grade 3, $200,000 Fasig-Tipton Waya and the Grade 3, $200,000 Belmont Turf Sprint. First post is 12:05 p.m. Eastern.

America's Day at the Races will present live coverage and analysis of every day of Belmont at the Big A on the networks of FOX Sports. For the broadcast schedule and channel finder, visit https://www.nyra.com/aqueduct/racing/tv-schedule.

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