Ted Noffey opens up late for impressive victory in Hopeful

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Ted Noffey, under John Velazquez, cruised up alongside the pacesetting Soldier N Diplomat nearing the quarter pole of Monday’s Grade 1 Hopeful Stakes at Saratoga and hadn’t even been asked to run by the Hall of Fame jockey.

In the grandstand, Ted Noffey’s trainer, Todd Pletcher, for whom Velazquez has won over 1,900 races, got a good feeling of what was to come.

“I’ve watched Johnny ride a lot of races,” Pletcher said. “When he gets there like that, usually it’s a pretty good result.”

It was.

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When Velazquez finally did ask Ted Noffey to run, the colt responded in a big way, lengthening his fluid stride in the final three-sixteenths of a mile en route to an 8 1/2-length victory in the $300,000 Hopeful. Buetane, the Southern California invader from the Bob Baffert barn, finished second, a head in front of Curtain Call.

Soldier N Diplomat finished fourth followed by Aye Eye, Romeo, and Flyin Hawaiian. Emphasis, Pletcher’s other entrant scratched.

The win enabled Pletcher to earn a share of the Saratoga trainer’s title with Chad Brown, who won the last race of the meet to forge that tie. Each trainer won 32 races.

“Honestly we were not thinking so much about possibly winning the training title, it was more about having some exciting horses coming up and hoping they ran well,” said Pletcher, who won his 15th title, the first one coming in 1998.

Ted Noffey was the fourth 2-year-old to win two races including a stakes at Saratoga. He joined Tommy Jo (Spinaway), Time to Dream (P.G. Johnson), and Final Score (With Anticipation) to accomplish that. Overall, Pletcher won 19 races with his 2-year-olds.

Ted Noffey, named for Spendthrift’s general manager Ned Toffey, won his maiden by 1 1/4 lengths from the outside post in an eight-horse field. Monday, he worked out a similar trip from an outside post in this seven-horse field.

Ted Noffey actually broke on top, but Velazquez was content to let Soldier N Diplomat, ridden by Ricardo Santana Jr. go to the lead. Ted Noffey sat a length off that horse through a quarter in 23.16 seconds and a half-mile in 47.16 before Velazquez began to get Ted Noffey closer. Velazquez roused Ted Noffey at the three-sixteenths pole and he drew away emphatically.

Velazquez said Ted Noffey’s turn of foot is “incredible. It’s like I’m galloping, galloping, and before he passed horses he kind of [tried to] get away, so I just showed him the whip and he got onto the bridle a little sooner than I wanted to, but you could tell once he got there, he was going to win it.”

Ted Noffey, a son of the Spendthrift-based Into Mischief, covered the seven furlongs in 1:22.35 and returned $9.62. He earned a 98 Beyer Speed Figure.

“He broke good, put himself in a great spot, seemed liked he was traveling well throughout, finished up strongly, galloped out great did everything you hoped to see,” said Pletcher, who won his fifth Hopeful.

Flavien Prat had Buetane, the 6-5 favorite, perched outside of Ted Noffey down the backside, but his horse couldn’t match strides.

“I thought I was in a good spot down the backside, I wanted to get myself in the clear,” Prat said. “As the race developed, the winner just opened up and I couldn’t keep up.”

Pletcher said he would likely stretch Ted Noffey out around two turns in the Grade 1, $650,000 Breeders’ Futurity, a 1 1/16-mile race at Keeneland on Oct. 4.

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