Northern Invader eyes bounce back in Gio Ponti
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OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Northern Invader looked like a potential star when he won his turf debut by eight lengths at Belmont Park in July. That star dimmed some when he finished fifth in the Grade 2 Secretariat Stakes at Colonial Downs in August.
Friday, Northern Invader gets a chance to redeem himself and show that his maiden win was not a one-off, when he heads a five-horse field of 3-year-olds set to run one mile in the Gio Ponti Stakes at Aqueduct. With only five – plus one main-track-only entrant – the Gio Ponti is carded as race 2 on an 11-race card that also includes the twice rescheduled Ashley T. Cole Stakes for New York-breds.
After two runner-up finishes on dirt at Churchill to begin his career, Northern Invader took it to another level when he sat off a strong early pace and closed stoutly to draw off for an eight-length maiden score on July 4 at Belmont.
In the Secretariat, on Aug. 12, Northern Invader had to steady entering the first turn, launched a three-wide bid entering the far turn, but made no impact in the lane, finishing 2 3/4 lengths behind upset winner Gigante.
Cherie DeVaux, who trains Northern Invader, said the Secretariat was run under hot, humid conditions, and the horse came back “quite quiet, which is unlike him.
“I’m just drawing a line through the race, he’s been training really well since,” DeVaux said. “His three races prior to this last race were all really good, even on the dirt. You have to think the one bad effort was just an outlier, hopefully.”
Jose Ortiz will ride Northern Invader, replacing John Velazquez, who is riding at Keeneland on Friday.
Northern Invader is owned in part by West Point Thoroughbreds as is Ohana Honor. The latter, trained by Shug McGaughey, is coming off two dominant wins at Colonial Downs.
Appraise, trained by Chad Brown, is coming off a second-place finish in the Grade 2 National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame Stakes on Aug. 11 at Saratoga. He finished in between stablemate Carl Spackler and More Than Looks, both of whom came back to win stakes in their next starts.
The Hall of Fame “took a little bit out of him, so I gave him a little extra time to get over that,” Brown said of Appraise. “His first work back was a bit off form, but then he came back and worked good again.”
Bat Flip, trained by Todd Pletcher, finished eighth in the Hall of Fame Stakes and 10th in the Franklin-Simpson. He is a two-time winner over Aqueduct’s turf.
City Fever, trained by Mike Trombetta, attempts to stretch out off a 5 1/2-furlong maiden win on turf at Saratoga.
City Man, Spirit of St Louis top Cole
It appears City Man and Spirit of St Louis, the two top finishers from the West Point Stakes at Saratoga, will get their rematch in the $135,000 Ashley T. Cole, which will finally be run Friday after twice being canceled due to weather.
City Man, trained by Christophe Clement, beat Spirit of St Louis by 1 1/2 lengths in the West Point as City Man won his fourth consecutive New York-bred turf stakes.
The postponements due to weather and several consecutive dry days should leave the turf in good-to-firm condition come Friday, which is good news to the connections.
“He doesn’t have the same turn of foot on soft turf that he does on firm turf,” said Christophe Lorieul, assistant to Clement. “The horse is doing well, and it’ll obviously be good to get him on a turf to his liking.”
Trevor McCarthy, who won last year’s Cole on City Man, gets the mount on him Friday because Joel Rosario, named the previous two times this race was scheduled, rides Friday at Keeneland.
Spirit of St Louis had won his previous two turf starts before the defeat to City Man. Trainer Chad Brown said his horse was simply “second best” on that day.
Jerry the Nipper, trained by Todd Pletcher, set the pace in the West Point, but ultimately finished third. He finished fourth behind City Man in last year’s Cole.
Born Dancer, Barrage, and Kingdom on Paws are all back in the Cole. Un Ojo, entered as a main track only the previous two times this race was drawn, is entered again, but not as an MTO, on Friday.
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