Spendthrift Juveniles Getting It Done At The Spa

It was Ned Toffey’s daughter Megan who first saw the tweet. Sent in mid-February, it previewed an upcoming issue of an industry publication, including a story about the 2024 winner of Kentucky Thoroughbred Farm Managers’ Club, Ned Toffey, general manager of Spendthrift Farm. Except it read “Ted Noffey.” That tweet has gotten a lot of attention over the last 24 hours, after a 2-year-old named Ted Noffey, owned by Spendthrift and trained by Todd Pletcher, won on debut at Saratoga Race Course Aug. 2. Toffey’s daughter took a screenshot of the tweet and sent it to Eric Gustavson, Spendthrift’s owner. Spendthrift had purchased an Into Mischief colt at last fall’s Keeneland September Yearling Sale for $650,000, and, unbeknownst to Toffey, bestowed the name on him. “The first I heard of it was when someone sent me a listing of the horse’s first workout,” said Toffey. “I thought it was hilarious. But you know what? The horse can run, so whatever they call him is fine.” “It shows how much they think of him,” said Toffey’s wife Katie. “It actually makes me a little emotional.” Ted Noffey may be the highest-profile Spendthrift juvenile to win at Saratoga this year, but he’s in pretty impressive company. The farm has won four maiden special weight races since the meet began July 10, one of those coming with another namesake: Spendthrift homebred Tommy Jo is named for Gustavson’s first grandchild. “She’s got a lot more to live up to than Ted Noffey does,” Toffey joked. Three of those wins have come with progeny of Spendthrift stallions. Tommy Jo and Ted Noffey are both by Into Mischief, while Emphasis, owned in partnership with Repole Stable, is by first-crop sire Yaupon. The fourth winner, Tapit's Legacy, itself a namesake of sorts, was purchased with Epic Racing. “We’ve done a fair amount of partnering,” said Toffey. "We've got pieces of more horses in training than we have in the past. Last year, we thought we were poised to have a really nice year. We loved our horses in Ocala being broken, and we ended up being a little disappointed. We like this group a lot as well, and they’re performing really nicely.” Tommy Jo is the only homebred among the four winners so far. Spendthrift and Epic Racing paid $550,000 for Tapit’s Legacy at the Ocala Breeders' Sale's March Sale of 2-Year-Olds in Training. The previous September, the colt had been a $45,000 RNA at Keeneland. Repole and Spendthrift went to $625,000 for Emphasis, whose sire is by Repole’s Uncle Mo, while Spendthrift went solo in purchasing Ted Noffey. “This is a tough game,” said Toffey. "Sometimes things work out the way you want, and sometimes they don’t. So we’re just happy to be having a good year, and hopefully, these guys go on and do bigger and better things.” And as for Toffey’s recent celebrity? “It’s been very nice to see. So many people have reached out,” he said. “Everybody has had something nice to say.” But the generally amiable and easy-going Toffey is also drawing the line. “I joked with Eric Gustavson that if I get arrested for assault, it may be because of one too many Ted comments,” he said. “We had a good laugh about it.” So if you see him around Saratoga or Lexington, at the track or the sales, by all means congratulate him. But don’t call him Ted.