DEL MAR, Calif. - Lather. Rinse. Repeat.
In a performance that looked very similar to his previous two Grade 1 stakes victories, Ted Noffey stalked the pacesetting Brant, took over from that one straightening away in the stretch and then, after idling some, kept longshot Mr. A. P. at bay to win Friday’s $2 million Breeders’ Cup Juvenile by one length at Del Mar.
Mr. A. P., coming out of a maiden win 18 days ago, finished second by a half-length over Brant. Litmus Test was fourth, followed by Intrepido and Comport.
The Juvenile ran with only six horses - the smallest field in the 42-year history of the race - as Blackout Time, who had finished second to Ted Noffey in the Grade 1 Breeders’ Futurity at Keeneland, was scratched by the regulatory veterinarians Friday morning due to concerns over the colt’s left hind ankle, according to trainer Kenny McPeek.
Civil Liberty, a maiden, was scratched earlier in the week due to swelling in an upper tendon, according to trainer Doug O’Neill.
The victory should sew up an Eclipse Award as champion 2-year-old for Ted Noffey, who added the Juvenile to Grade 1 victories earlier in the year in the Hopeful at Saratoga and Breeders’ Futurity at Keeneland. Thirty-two of the 41 previous BC Juvenile winners have been crowned champions, including the last 10.
The victory gave Pletcher his third Juvenile victory in the last four years and his fifth overall, tying him for second in that category with the late D. Wayne Lukas. Bob Baffert, who sent out Brant and Litmus Test Friday, holds the record for Juvenile wins with six.
Ted Noffey became the first odds-on favorite to win the Juvenile since Chief’s Crown took the inaugural running as the 3-5 favorite in 1984. Since then, odds-on choices had gone 0 for 7 in the Juvenile.
The trip that jockey John Velazquez gave Ted Noffey in the Juvenile was almost a carbon copy of his previous stakes wins. Breaking from the outside post - as he had in all three of his previous starts, including a maiden victory - Ted Noffey took up a stalking position outside of Brant, the undefeated winner of the Del Mar Futurity, who under Flavien Prat set a modest pace of 23.46 seconds for the quarter and 46.99 for the half-mile, and six furlongs in 1:10.83.
Ted Noffey drew on even terms with Brant at the quarter pole and in the lane it looked like he was going to open up his advantage. But Ted Noffey’s head came up and, briefly, it looked like he was starting to slow down and Brant was coming back on him.
“Coming down the stretch he put a half-length in front of the other horse, between that and the shadow from the building he started waiting,” Velazquez said. “He more than idled, he went to almost a gallop basically. It scared me for a second. Once he passed the shadow, once I went to re-engage him, he re-engaged again right away. After that it was pretty easy.”
Watching from the grandstand, Pletcher was a little concerned when Ted Noffey began to idle.
“I was hoping he wasn’t getting tired, that he was distracted,” Pletcher said. “He lost his focus for 60 or 70 yards there, once he refocused and re-engaged he started to draw away again and then he galloped out like he wanted to go around again.
“Other than that brief moment when he seemed like he idled a bit, it was perfect.”
Ted Noffey, who went a perfect 4 for 4 in 2025, completed the 1 1/16 miles in 1:42.25, earning a 97 Beyer Speed Figure, and returned $3.60 as the favorite. Ted Noffey is a son of Into Mischief owned by Spendthrift Farm, which stands Into Mischief. He was purchased at auction for $650,000.
Ted Noffey, named for a social media faux pas that involved Spendthrift general manager Ned Toffey, will fly back to New York for a brief stay before heading to South Florida to kick off his 3-year-old campaign.
Mr. A. P., ridden by Antonio Fresu, sat up close in third behind Brant and Ned Toffey. When Mr. A. P. passed Brant, his trainer, Vladimir Cerin, thought briefly his horse might catch Ted Noffey. He didn’t. Nonetheless, Cerin was happy with his ridgling’s performance, considering he just claimed the horse for $150,000 in July.
“I’m happy because these fractions were not as fast as most fractions during the day,” Cerin said. “Speed held every race and he was able to make up a little bit of ground in the stretch. Happy for him and the owners and for myself.”
Flavien Prat, the rider of Brant, said he got the trip he wanted on the lead.
“I had a good trip,” Prat said. “I never felt I could get away from Johnny’s horse.”
In 2025, nobody could get away from Ted Noffey.
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