Ted Noffey caps unbeaten season with Juvenile glory

Spendthrift Farm’s Ted Noffey tracked pacesetter Brant to the top of the stretch and drove clear in the $1.76 million Breeders’ Cup Juvenile (G1) on Friday at Del Mar, remaining perfect and notching his third consecutive Grade 1 win.

By leading sire Into Mischief, the gray colt provided Todd Pletcher with his fourth Juvenile victory, third in the last four years, and regular rider John Velazquez earned a record-tying third Juvenile win. Ted Noffey left the starting gate as the 4-5 choice and completed 1 1/16 miles in 1:42.25.

“Broke well, got my hands pretty loose on him, I didn't take a hold of him,” Velazquez said. “The horse in front was the horse to beat. He (Ted Noffey) made it easy for me. I was very confident. The only thing he did a little bit was he idled really bad at the eighth pole, getting to that shadow between the building, and he kind of waited. After that, he passed the shadow, and the two horses came in, and he went back in and re-engaged again.”  

“It pretty much unfolded like we thought it would,” Pletcher added. “Just glad that he was able to keep finding more.” 

The presumptive champion two-year-old male moved to the top of the Kentucky Derby leaderboard with 40 points, earning 30 for the Juvenile and 10 for a convincing win in the Oct. 4 Breeders’ Futurity (G1) at Keeneland. Ted Noffey opened his racing career with a pair of stylish performances at Saratoga, including an 8 1/2-length romp in the Hopeful (G1), and he’s now earned more $1.65 million.

The next four finishers earned points on a 15-9-6-3 scale as part of the Road to the Kentucky Derby qualifying series.

Mr. A. P., off at 20-1 following a maiden win at Santa Anita, stalked the pace in third and tried to catch the winner in deep stretch but came up a length short in second, a half-length better than 8-5 second choice Brant, who weakened to third after establishing opening splits in :23.46. :46.99, and 1:10.82. Litmus Test came next, followed by Intrepido and Comport.

Bred in Kentucky by Aaron and Marie Jones, Ted Noffey was purchased for $650,000 as a yearling at the 2024 Keeneland September sale. He’s the first stakes winner out of the stakes-winning Old Fashioned mare Streak of Luck.

“He's an easy horse to ride, really, that's it,” Velazquez said. “Just let him do his thing and he's happy, as he's done every single race."

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