Ted Noffey Seeks a Second Grade 1 in Breeders' Futurity

No rival could keep up with Ted Noffey this summer at Saratoga Race Course, notching two victories in as many starts, first breaking his maiden at 6 1/2 furlongs and then romping in the 7-furlong Hopeful Stakes (G1). Now, he'll look to extend his brilliance to Kentucky and around two turns when he routes for the first time in the $650,000 Breeders' Futurity (G1) going 1 1/16 miles Oct. 4 at Keeneland. The race is a key prep for the Oct. 31 Breeders' Cup Juvenile (G1), and provides a paid, automatic berth into the race via the Breeders' Cup Challenge Series: Win and You're In. It is also one of three Road to the Kentucky Derby races Saturday, and offers qualifying points to the Kentucky Derby (G1) to the top-five finishers on a 10-5-3-2-1 basis. Following his head-turning Hopeful, in which he blitzed 7 furlongs in 1:22.35, Ted Noffey figures to start as the favorite despite the presence of talented 2-year-olds set to oppose him. Exciting maiden winners Blackout Time and Big Dom are in the lineup, as is Iroquois Stakes (G3) Spice Runner. Another graded stakes winner, Ewing, will scratch after not exiting his recent training in peak health, his connections said. He will undergo a full exam. Ted Noffey has something they do not—a grade 1 victory by 8 1/2 lengths in the Hopeful. All six of his rivals in the Hopeful lost 5 lengths or more of position on Ted Noffey over the Hopeful's closing eighth when he zipped that split in :12.17. Ted Noffey came from just off the pace, as he did in his debut. "His turn of foot is incredible," jockey John Velazquez said after the Hopeful. Ted Noffey could give Spendthrift Farm its first Breeders' Futurity with a colt playfully named after a transposed social media post meant to refer to Spendthrift Farm general manager Ned Toffey. Velazquez rides from post 6, aboard for his longtime supporter, fellow Hall of Famer Todd Pletcher. They previously teamed together to win the 2013 Breeders' Futurity with We Miss Artie and the following year with Carpe Diem. Pletcher also has more recent Breeders' Futurity winners: Forte (2022) and Locked (2023). They scored beneath Irad Ortiz Jr. and Jose Ortiz, respectively. A $650,000 Keeneland September Yearling Sale purchase last year, Ted Noffey is a son of Spendthrift Farm's six-time leading general sire Into Mischief, and he takes after his dam, the Old Fashioned mare Streak of Luck, as a gray and/or roan. Streak of Luck won the one-mile Lady Canterbury Stakes on turf in 2020 and placed in a couple of graded stakes on grass. Ted Noffey's only other sibling to start, Fully Authorized (Authentic), is a dual winner at a mile on turf. Diciasette and Litmus Test complete the field. Diciasette is 2-for-2 in Florida and a minor stakes winner for trainer Patrick Biancone. The Bob Baffert-trained Litmus Test heads east after a first-out win and a fourth-place finish behind stablemate Brant in the Del Mar Futurity (G1) in Southern California.