Northern Invader delivered as a heavy favorite Thursday at Churchill Downs, securing his fourth career victory with a precise and confident ride from jockey Jose Ortiz.

The chestnut gelding dictated terms from the outset in a field of four, setting a controlled tempo before unleashing a sharp turn of foot in the stretch, covering the final quarter-mile in 22 1/5 seconds over firm turf.

Jose said, “My plan was going to the lead but I tried to nurse him along to the first turn, which I did. A small field helped but from the three-eighths pole to the wire they rolled home.”

A stakes winner as a 3-year-old in 2023 and Graded-stakes placed at 4 and 5, Northern Invader has won four of 14 starts and earned $426,970 for West Point and co-owner David Ingordo. The winning trainer is David’s wife, Cherie DeVaux.

Ingordo signed the ticket for Ontario-bred Northern Invader at the 2022 OBS March sale of two-year-olds in training, snatched up from the consignment of Steve Venosa. This spring shopping from Venosa’s consignment, West Point acquired Curtain Call, Into the Beast and a Tiz the Law colt out of Georgian Dancer.