2025 Eclipse Awards: Ted Noffey

Ned Toffey had a simple request when he learned that his boss Erik Gustavson decided to name a horse in his honor.

“I just hope he can run faster than me,” Toffey said at Saratoga the day before Ted Noffey made his debut.

Wish granted.

Not only could Ted Noffey run faster than Ned Toffey, he also was faster than every other horse who lined up against him in the starting gate. Ted Noffey went 4 for 4 with three Grade 1 stakes wins capped by a one-length victory in the Grade 1 FanDuel Breeders’ Cup Juvenile presented by the Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance. That résumé figures to earn Ted Noffey an Eclipse Award as North America’s champion 2-year-old male.

Ted Noffey is a son of Into Mischief, a sire who stands at Spendthrift Farm, owned by Gustavson and where Ned Toffey is the general manager. In 2024, Toffey was chosen as Kentucky’s farm manager of the year. An industry publication, in a post on X promoting a story about the honor, mistakenly identified Ned Toffey as Ted Noffey and thus the origination of the name.

:: Full list of 2025 Eclipse Awards finalists, including profile stories

Ted Noffey, out of the Old Fashioned mare Streak of Luck, was bred in Kentucky by Aaron and Marie Jones LLC and purchased by Spendthrift for $650,000 at the 2024 Keeneland September yearling sale. The horse was turned over to trainer Todd Pletcher, who had Ted Noffey impeccably prepared for his debut at Saratoga, which came in the first race on the Aug. 2 Whitney Stakes Day program.

Breaking from the outside post under John Velazquez, Ted Noffey stalked the pace from fourth, confronted the pacesetting favorite Tagermeen at the quarter pole, and drew clear in the final furlong.

That outside stalking trip was repeated by Ted Noffey in the Grade 1 Spendthrift Farm Hopeful Stakes on Sept. 1, when he ran away from the competition in the stretch to win by 8 1/2 lengths.

As well as Ted Noffey had run in his two one-turn races, Pletcher said he was really looking forward to stretching him out around two turns. The first opportunity to do that came in the Grade 1 Claiborne Breeders’ Futurity on Oct. 5 at Keeneland, where, for the third straight race, Ted Noffey drew the outside post, worked out an outside stalking trip, and ran away from his rivals to win by 2 3/4 lengths.

The Breeders’ Cup Juvenile, on Oct. 31 at Del Mar, scratched down to a six-horse field. Yet again, Ted Noffey had the outside post and made the most of it. He stalked the pacesetting Grade 1 winner Brant, took over from him in upper stretch, and held off a resurgent Brant and then Mr. A. P. to win the Juvenile by one length. Perhaps the most notable part of the victory was the way Ted Noffey galloped out afterward as Velazquez needed assistance from the outrider to pull him up.

Ted Noffey will winter in South Florida with the idea of using two races, likely the Fountain of Youth and Florida Derby at Gulfstream Park, as preps prior to a start in the Kentucky Derby.

:: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.