Northern Invader and Jaxon Traveler will kick off 2025 looking to bolster their resumes in stakes action this weekend.

Northern Invader will make his first start as a gelding in the $100,000 Colonel E. R. Bradley Stakes on the turf Saturday at New Orleans, renewing a rivalry with Gigante. In December 2023 at Fair Grounds, Gigante edged Northern Invader by a neck in the Woodchopper Stakes. Northern Invader, a stakes winner in New York, most recently finished third in the Grade 3 Kelso Stakes at Saratoga for trainer Cherie DeVaux.

Jaxon Traveler is the 7-to-5 morning-line favorite for Friday’s Fort Bliss Stakes at Sunland Park in New Mexico. Trained by Steve Asmussen, Jaxon Traveler has prevailed in three previous trips to New Mexico, winning back-to-back editions of the Zia Park Sprint as well as the Bill Thomas Memorial at Sunland. Jaxon Traveler, a 7-year-old, will bid to become a stakes winner for the sixth straight season. He owns 12 wins in 34 career races and $1,077,798 in earnings.