Ted Noffey winning the Breeders’ Futurity at Keenaland. (Jenny Doyle/Past The Wire)
Christian Abdo
Spendthrift Farm’s Champion 2-Year-Old Colt Ted Noffey will make his 3-year-old debut off a one-year layoff in Saturday’s Listed $200,000 Dwyer, a one-turn mile for sophomores, at Belmont Park.
Trained by Hall of Famer Todd Pletcher, the Into Mischief gray posted a 4-for-4 juvenile campaign, including Grade 1 wins in the Spendthrift Farm Hopeful at Saratoga Race Course, Breeders’ Futurity at Keeneland and the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile last out on October 31, 2025 at Del Mar.
Ted Noffey was named Champion 2-Year-Old Colt and regarded as a top prospect for the 2026 Kentucky Derby, but it was announced in late January that he would be sidelined with bone bruising.
Ted Noffey returned to the work tab in August at Saratoga and has worked steadily since, moving to Belmont Park in mid-October with his sights set on the Dwyer – a race Pletcher has won with Strong Hope [2003], Any Given Saturday [2007] and Charge It [2022].
Ted Noffey breezed a half-mile in 48.42 seconds on Saturday over the Belmont dirt training track in company with stakes-winning 5-year-old Tuscan Sky.
“He’s put in three solid works here,” said Stu Hampson, assistant to Pletcher. “He worked with a kind of war horse we have. He gave us what we wanted in his last works at Saratoga and in the subsequent works since he’s been at Belmont, he has disposed of his company pretty easily, and they were both generous work horses, so we’re happy with what we’ve seen.”
Ted Noffey [post 6, John Velazquez] cuts back to a one-turn mile after his pair of wins around two turns.
“We’ve got him as fit as we can get him without running him,” Hampson said. “The rest is up to him. He’s breezed only on the training track here, but we’ve been happy with what we’ve seen. He’s offered a few generous gallop-outs, seems to be working closely to the Ted Noffey that we knew last year as Champion 2-Year-Old. Now, we just need to hope he shows up and replicates it in the afternoon.”
Bred in Kentucky by Aaron and Marie Jones, Ted Noffey, a $650,000 purchase at the 2024 Keeneland September Yearling Sale, is out of the dual graded stakes-placed Old Fashioned mare Streak of Luck.
Flanagan Racing’s Sea Strike [post 9, Flavien Prat] boasts a field-best 102 Beyer Speed Figure from an 8 1/4-length score in the nine-furlong restricted Listed Curlin presented by Casamigos on August 2 at Saratoga Race Course.
Trained by five-time Eclipse Award-winner Chad Brown, who captured this event with Practical Joke [2017] and Domestic Product [2024], Sea Strike exited the Curlin to finish sixth in the 10-furlong Grade 1 DraftKings Travers at the Spa.
Around one turn, the Midshipman chestnut was previously fifth in a key allowance versus elders sprinting 6 1/2 furlongs in June at the Spa after a winning six-furlong debut in April at Aqueduct Racetrack.
Sea Strike, a $650,000 purchase from the 2025 OBS March Sale of 2-Year-Olds in Training, is out of the Line of David mare Meetmeonline, a half-sister to Grade 2-winner Bucchero, who stands in New York at Ironhorse Stallions and sired reigning Champion Male Sprinter Book’em Danno.
Three Chimneys Farm’s Kentucky homebred Igniter [post 8, Manny Franco] returns to one-turn after a fifth to The Puma in the nine-furlong Grade 1 Pennsylvania Derby on September 19 at Parx Racing. That rival was second in Saturday’s Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Classic at Keeneland.
Trained by Rick Dutrow, Jr., the Volatile chestnut entered that race from a four-length score in the one-mile Listed Ellis Park Derby in August. His other starts this year include wins at Aqueduct Racetrack in the Jimmy Winkfield and an optional claimer, as well as thirds in the Grade 3 Maxfield at Churchill Downs and the Listed Chick Lang at Laurel Park.
“I’m looking forward to running him here,” Dutrow, Jr. said. “This will be another tough, tough spot, but he’s doing fantastic. He’s never run at Belmont, so I’m looking forward to trying that with him. This year, he has had a good year. Last year as a baby, he was OK, too.”
As a 2-year-old, Igniter graduated second out at the mile distance in September at Belmont at the Big A and he exited to cap his season with a sixth in the nine-furlong Grade 2 Remsen in December there. Igniter is out of the Grade 1-winning Malibu Moon mare Malibu Prayer, who is a half-sister to the multiple graded stakes-winning millionaire Valid.
Trade Winds Farm’s Stop the Car [post 5, Dylan Davis] looks to improve upon a sixth in the seven-furlong Harrods Creek last out on September 19 at Churchill Downs. Trained by Brendan Walsh, the Maximum Security bay was previously third to Igniter in the Ellis Park Derby.
“It was a bit sharp for him last out and he was a little more forward than he normally is because they weren’t going quick enough,” Walsh said. “He needs to get in behind a fast pace and the mile is more to his liking than the seven [furlongs].”
Stop the Car rallied from 10th-of-11 to third behind Crude Velocity and Englishman in the Grade 2 Pat Day Mile on May 2 at Churchill Downs. He also won an optional claimer second-out over that course and distance last November.
“I think the one-turn mile is perfect for him,” Walsh said. “He ran a very good race in the Pat Day Mile. I think that one-turn mile is what he wants and it’s such a hard race to find.”
Rounding out the field are Grade 3-placed Bravaro [post 1, Paco Lopez] for trainer Saffie Joseph, Jr.; multiple stakes-winner Mailata [post 10, Mychel Sanchez] for trainer Butch Reid, Jr.; stakes-placed Stimulate [post 3, Junior Alvarado] for Hall of Famer Bill Mott; Decisive Win [post 7, Antonio Fresu, blinkers ON] for trainer Doug O’Neill; Overtime Rules [post 2, Samuel Marin] for conditioner Arnaud Delacour; and White Smoke Rising [post 4, Kendrick Carmouche] for trainer Charlton Baker.
The Dwyer is slated as Race 8 on Saturday’s 10-race card, which includes the Grade 2 Mother Goose [Race 9], the Listed $175,000 Pumpkin Pie [Race 6] and the $175,000 Carle Place [Race 7]. First post is 11:40 a.m. Eastern.
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