DEL MAR, Calif. – Ted Noffey is on the outside, but he’s hardly an outsider. A winner of his first three starts, all when starting from outside post positions, Ted Noffey will start as a heavy favorite in Friday’s $2 million Breeders’ Cup Juvenile at Del Mar from the outside again in a seven-horse field. “I guess you wouldn’t be looking to dirt-school him for the first time in the Breeders’ Cup,” said Pletcher, who trains Ted Noffey for Spendthrift Farm. “He’s got enough tactical speed to get over and get in a good position, good rhythm, hopefully not complicated.” :: BREEDERS’ CUP JUVENILE: See DRF’s special section with top contenders, odds, comments, news, and more Thus far, Ted Noffey has been uncomplicated. He breaks, puts himself into the race, and then impresses by leaving his competition in the last sixteenth of a mile with jockey John Velazquez hardly having to ask him. “I think he possesses that factor that seems like all really good horses have – a high cruising speed with the ability to accelerate,” Pletcher said. “That puts him in a good spot, and he has the ability to finish.” Ted Noffey, owned by Spendthrift Farm, was made the 4-5 morning-line favorite by Daily Racing Form oddsmaker David Aragona. In 1984, Chief’s Crown won the inaugural Juvenile at 3-5. Since then, odds-on favorites are 0 for 7 in the Juvenile. Most recently, Cave Rock finished second at 2-5 behind Forte in the 2022 Juvenile. Cave Rock was trained by Bob Baffert, who has won the Juvenile a record six times, including last year with Citizen Bull, who was 15-1. This year, Baffert has Brant and Litmus Test in the Juvenile, a race which is virtually certain to anoint the 2-year-old male champion. Brant, a $3 million 2-year-old-in-training purchase by Amr Zedan, went 2 for 2 at Del Mar during the seaside track’s summer meet. The son of Gun Runner was a dominant 5 1/4-length debut winner going 5 1/2 furlongs on July 26. He won the Grade 1 Del Mar Futurity at seven furlongs by one length on Sept. 7. Baffert elected not to run Brant over the last two months. Baffert is 0 for 3 in the Juvenile with horses who won the Del Mar Futurity and didn’t have a race in between. Gaming, who won last year’s Del Mar Futurity, finished second in last year’s Juvenile. “I don’t think he needed it,” Baffert said. “He’s the kind of horse who’s light, he’s easy to train. I can work him slow, I can work him fast, he doesn’t need company. He’s just solid.” Baffert also sends out Litmus Test, a son of Nyquist who brought $875,000 as a yearling. Litmus Test won on debut on Aug. 16, then came back three weeks later and had a wide trip and lugged in some when fourth in the Del Mar Futurity. Baffert sent him on the road for the Grade 1 Breeders’ Futurity, where he set the pace and faded to third, five lengths behind Ted Noffey. “I told [Flavien] Prat, ‘Just get him away from there.’ He put him on [an] easy lead,” Baffert said. “Prat thought he needed it. He’s still a little soft. He got beat by a pretty good horse. He ran well. He could have stopped, but he hung in there. He’s come back, trained well.” With Prat riding Brant, Jose Ortiz has picked up the mount on Litmus Test, who will break from post 6. :: Get Breeders' Cup Betting Strategies from Brad Free and David Aragona for exclusive wager recommendations and play the races with confidence! Blackout Time, a son of Not This Time trained by Kenny McPeek, finished second, 2 3/4 lengths behind Ted Noffey, in the Breeders’ Futurity. Two months earlier, he won a maiden race at Ellis Park by 9 3/4 lengths. That race produced five next-out winners. “We’re going to need things to go our way. We certainly fit,” McPeek said. “I don’t see him a double-digit longshot. If he works out a trip where he can make up three or four lengths to Ted Noffey, then we’re going to get a big check.” Irad Ortiz Jr. has the call on Blackout Time, who breaks from post 2. Intrepido, a son of Maximus Mischief trained by Jeff Mullins, upset the American Pharoah at 8-1 with a less than ideal trip. He was steadied on both turns in the race, yet rallied late to beat Desert Gate by three-quarters of a length. Desert Gate was pointing to the Juvenile before a hock infection knocked him out of consideration. Intrepido, who won his maiden at Del Mar going a two-turn mile, has had two slow workouts in between the American Pharoah and this race. Mullins said those were by design. “He’s has two [two-turn] races. Coming back in four weeks, I didn’t want to empty the tank,” Mullins said. “His gallop-outs were long and strong and his actual finishes in the stretch were [too]. It’s just the first part of the works that were slow. I think the horse is doing great. He’s done everything right since he won his race at Santa Anita.” Comport, a son of Collected trained by Eddie Kenneally, won the Ellis Park Juvenile before finishing second, beaten a head, in the Grade 3 Iroquois Stakes at Churchill Downs on Sept. 13. He had a clear lead in the stretch that day and lost it while finishing five lengths clear of the rest of the field. Mr. A. P., claimed by his current connections for $150,000 in July, has since come back to win a maiden special weight going a mile on Oct. 13. Mr. A. P., a son of American Pharoah, is trained by Vladimir Cerin, whose last Breeders’ Cup starter was in 2008, when he sent out Albertus Maximus to win the Dirt Mile. “He ran very well on the dirt surface twice at Del Mar,” Cerin said of Mr. A. P. “It’s not the greatest field ever assembled. They’re all young horses – somebody could improve six, seven lengths overnight. Our horse could be one of the ones that improves.” It will take significant improvement from the competition to keep Ted Noffey outside the winner’s circle in the Juvenile. * Eight were entered in the Juvenile, but Civil Liberty, a maiden, will have to scratch after developing swelling in an upper tendon, trainer Doug O’Neill reported on X on Tuesday. O’Neill, in a phone interview, added that Civil Liberty will get 30 days off but will likely stay with him in the barn and be reevaluated. The hope is to point for a 3-year-old campaign. :: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.