From Friday afternoon through lunchtime on Saturday, the familiar orange and purple-quartered colors of Spendthrift Farm will be easy to spot on jockeys in five Breeders’ Cup races at Del Mar. It would be no surprise if a few of those runners reach the winner’s circle. Spendthrift Farm of Lexington, Ky., is owned by Tamara Gustavson, the daughter of the late real estate billionaire B. Wayne Hughes, and her husband, Eric. The outfit is in the midst of a banner year with its core bloodstock business and on the racetrack with Grade 1 stakes winners at Churchill Downs, Keeneland, and Saratoga since early May. The farm’s stallions are led by Into Mischief, the perennial leader by progeny earnings. Through Sunday, Into Mischief’s progeny had earned more than $26.7 million in 2025, led by Kentucky Derby winner Sovereignty. Into Mischief has led that category annually since 2019. ON SALE NOW: DRF Breeders' Cup Packages! Get everything you need to win and save big. The Spendthrift-owned quintet in Breeders’ Cup races consists of Tommy Jo in the $2 million Juvenile Fillies, Ted Noffey in the $2 million Juvenile, and Brave Deb in the $1 million Juvenile Fillies Turf on Friday. On Saturday, Kopion runs in the $2 million Sprint, while Tamara runs in the $1 million Filly and Mare Sprint. Those five runners have combined to win 11 of 13 starts this year. Ted Noffey and Tommy Jo are by Into Mischief. Brave Deb is by Authentic, while Kopion is by Omaha Beach. Authentic and Omaha Beach stand at Spendthrift. “Everybody on the farm, and everybody in the organization, is really excited about the success,” farm manager Ned Toffey said earlier this month from his Kentucky base. “Going into the Breeders’ Cup, we’re optimistic, but we’re realistic. A couple of our horses have a pretty good shot out there. There will be some good horses waiting for them. It’s the Breeders’ Cup. They’re not giving those things away. The horses will earn it.” Yes, the farm manager is Ned Toffey and the Spendthrift-owned colt is Ted Noffey, a name that originated from a misspelling of Toffey’s name on social media. While the name may be a bit silly, the colt has a serious record. Trained by Todd Pletcher, Ted Noffey is unbeaten in three starts, a streak comsisting of a maiden win at 6 1/2 furlongs at Saratoga on Aug. 2, a win by 8 1/2 lengths in the Grade 1 Hopeful Stakes at seven furlongs at Saratoga on Sept. 1, and a victory by 2 3/4 lengths in the Grade 1 Breeders’ Futurity at 1 1/16 miles at Keeneland on Oct. 4. A win in the BC Juvenile at 1 1/16 miles would assure Ted Noffey of the Eclipse Award as the champion 2-year-old male of 2025. “The great thing is that he’s already a Grade 1 two-time winner,” Toffey said. “It would be really fun to be able to complete the sweep and finish his 2-year-old year undefeated. It would make him almost a unanimous choice for champion 2-year-old.” :: Get the inside scoop from the morning workouts with Breeders' Cup Clocker Reports from Mike Welsch and the DRF Clocker Team. As quickly as he said that, Toffey attempted to tone down his enthusiasm. The BC Juvenile will be Ted Noffey’s first trip to California. “It’s easy to get ahead of yourself in this game,” Toffey said. “There is a talented bunch in the starting gate for the Juvenile. He’ll have to handle all of this – the ship, the new setting, the new surface, and some strong competition. We’re not confused about what he will have to do to earn it. He’s a very nice horse and obviously talented. He’s a good-minded horse. He takes things in stride.” Spendthrift was part of the ownership group that won the 2020 BC Classic with Authentic. In 2023, Tamara was the 4-5 favorite to win the Juvenile Fillies, only to finish seventh of 12. She was later diagnosed with an injury. Tamara has had only two subsequent starts. The latest was the Grade 3 Chillingworth Stakes at 6 1/2 furlongs for fillies and mares, which she won by 3 3/4 lengths at Santa Anita on Oct. 4. The Chillingworth was Tamara’s first race in 11 months. Last winter, she sustained a hock injury that required surgery to remove a bone chip from a sesamoid. Tamara is by Bolt d’Oro and is out of Beholder, a Hall of Famer and four-time champion from 2012 to 2016. Beholder was unbeaten in three starts in Breeders’ Cup races for B. Wayne Hughes, winning the 2012 Juvenile Fillies and the Distaff in 2013 and 2016. With that pedigree, the Spendthrift team could have opted to retire Tamara earlier this year to be bred. Instead, she stayed in training with trainer Richard Mandella. “In her case, it was tricky,” Toffey said. “Will they come out of injuries the way they were before? One of the wonderful things about Richard Mandella is he gives them time. He’s a wonderful caretaker of the horse. He was pretty optimistic about Tamara’s chances of coming back really well. I think that’s what we’re seeing now. Time is rarely a bad thing for a horse.” Kopion, winner of the Grade 1 Derby City Distaff at Churchill Downs in May, has won three stakes in the last year. Kopion is part of Omaha Beach’s success. Omaha Beach leads the nation’s third crop sires in earnings through Sunday. The second- through fourth-ranked stallions on the list – Mitole, Maximus Mischief, and Vino Rosso – also stand at Spendthrift. Among first-crop stallions, Spendthrift’s Yaupon leads the list, while the farm’s Rock Your World is third. Among second-crop stallions, Vekoma, who stands at Spendthrift, was top-ranked as of Sunday. Spendthrift had the leading first-year stallions from 2022 to 2024 with Bolt d’Oro, Mitole, and Vekoma. With that lineup, Spendthrift’s stallions will be in demand for years. “For a time, the criticism was it was Into Mischief and everybody else,” Toffey said. “I feel good about the roster. We’ve got some very nice young horses and they are establishing themselves.” B. Wayne Hughes bought Spendthrift in 2004, the same year Toffey, 62, joined the management team. Hughes died in 2021. The Gustavsons have invested significantly in the enterprise in recent years, acquiring bloodstock and enhancing the racing stable. Toffey said that a few weeks ago, more than 40 Spendthrift-owned yearlings were transported from central Kentucky to Ocala, Fla., for breaking and training in advance of the 2026 racing season. “Plenty of what we’re doing and what you’re seeing are tweaks that they have made,” Toffey said of the Gustavsons. “They really picked up and built on the foundation that Wayne laid here. A big part of that is they carried on in the stallion end of things and the homebred aspect of the racing program and expansion of the racing program. We’re racing more horses and more homebreds.” Aside from the Breeders’ Cup horses, there is excitement surrounding Further Ado, a colt by Gun Runner bought for $550,000 who won a maiden race at 1 1/16 miles by an astonishing 20 lengths at Keeneland on Oct. 10. Trained by Brad Cox, Further Ado is a candidate for the Grade 2 Kentucky Jockey Club Stakes at 1 1/16 miles at Churchill Downs on Nov. 29. Further Ado may need to win that prestigious race stylishly to keep up with Ted Noffey in the wintertime discussions about the 2026 Triple Crown. This weekend, though, the focus is on Breeders’ Cup runners – particularly Ted Noffey. “I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t having fun with the horse being somewhat named after me,” Toffey said. Racing people know the difference between Ted Noffey and Ned Toffey. The sports public may learn the story very soon and, in turn, become familiar with a famous set of silks. :: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.