John Velazquez sporting Spenthrift’s silks aboard Ted Noffey after winning the Claiborne Breeders’ Futurity at Keeneland. (Jenny Doyle/Past The Wire)
Ted Noffey and Tommy Jo run for their namesakes
Breeders’ Cup Closer Look
Spendthrift Farm has a couple of unbeaten 2-year-olds that are standouts on the track and in the Thoroughbred name game that figure to be top contenders in their Breeders’ Cup races.
Meet Ted Noffey and Tommy Jo.
Their names come from far different places, for far different reasons and are carried by young horses who could lock up division titles if they turn in big performances on Friday. Tommy Jo is named for the toddler granddaughter of Tamara Hughes Gustavon and Erik Gustavson. Her father, the late B. Wayne Hughes, who operated Spendthrift. Ted Noffey’s name came from a bungled headline in a trade publication over a story about Spendthrift General Manager Ned Toffey receiving an award.
Following a pair of victories at Saratoga Race Course and a graded-stakes win at Keeneland each, Ted Noffey is the 4-5 morning-line favorite in the FanDuel Breeders’ Cup Juvenile, while Tommy Jo is the 7-2 second choice in the NetJets Brreders’Cup Juvenile Fillies (G1).
An unwritten rule of naming thoroughbreds is to select a talented animal to carry a personally favored name, or one with an interesting background story. So far, so good with Ted Noffey and Tommy Jo.
“These are certainly situations where it’s worked out,” Ned Toffey said. “But if you look at some of our other horses that are far less accomplished or not very accomplished at all, you will find that a number of them have been named after people, including one named B. Wayne that should have been a superstar. We actually tried the name twice. The first horse didn’t get to the races, and the second horse just was not a very good horse. There’s times when that works out really well and times where it doesn’t. One of the things we do know is it’s really just hard to know which of these horses is going to turn into something.
“We all have our opinions and but until they run, you just don’t know what they’re going to do. For these ones, where the names have really worked out nicely, there’s several where it hasn’t worked out that way.”
Noffey said that the Gustavsons do most of the namings of the farm’s youngsters.
“He’s not shy about naming one after a family member or any number of things,” Toffey said. “He’s got a great sense of humor, and he has a lot of fun with the naming. There’s been some horses with some really fun names that have unfortunately not worked out. Just like the rest of racing, it’s all the better when it does work out, and you’ve got to enjoy it when it does.”
Ted Noffey has been a winner on both counts: distinctively named horse with talent. His name came from error in a headline over a story about Toffey being honored as the Kentucky Farm Manager of the Year. Toffey’s daughter Meghan spotted the Ned Toffey/Ted Noffey mistake and notified the publication after she had taken a screen shot. She sent the image to Erik Gustavson, who – without telling Toffey-named a gray son of Into Mischief that Spendthrift had purchased as a yearling at Keeneland for $650,000. Toffey discovered the name when Ted Noffey showed up on a workout tab.
Toffey and his family were at Saratoga on Aug. 2 when the colt broke his maiden in his debut. There were loads of smiles and laughs in the winner’s circle that afternoon.
“I honestly, underestimated what people’s reactions would be to it,” Toffey said. “That’s actually been very nice because so many people have reached out and said, ‘Oh my gosh, we were cheering so hard for him.’
“Some of the other guys in our organization were getting a little tired of it. We were up at Saratoga, walking around, looking at horses at the sale, and they joked that they were getting pretty tired of, or maybe, I’m not even sure that they were joking, getting pretty tired of listening to people stop us and comment on the name. It was a lot of fun and that’s a great thing when a name evokes a reaction from people. I think that’s been really a lot of fun with it.”
Toffey said that the colt, bred by Aaron and Marie Jones, caught his eye when he was looking at yearlings and that “nice horse” was the note he made for himself.
We spy Ted Noffey! pic.twitter.com/7t8FdvRHYp
— Breeders' Cup (@BreedersCup) October 29, 2025
“When I was younger, I guess I used to write a novel about each horse,” Toffey said, with a laugh. “Now if one really stands out, if I go back and look at my catalogue, and all I’ve written is nice horse, it’s a pretty nice horse.
“I remember having the thought when I looked at him, ‘Is this horse just too obvious?’ He was just that nice. I’ve found that some of the best horses that we’ve been involved in buying, you need very little time to look at them and make a decision.”
Toffey said that hard part is not to second-guess your assessment.
“But coming to the initial conclusion that this is one to bid on, is often with those really good ones, really easy. He was that way,” Toffey said. “The conversation that I’ve had with a handful of people is some people had reservations about him being a gray Into Mischief. It wasn’t a concern for me. When you have a very nice horse in front of you, you don’t need to worry about it. You just go try to get them.”
Ted Noffey moved from the maiden win to an 8½-length victory in the Hopeful (G1) to a 2 ¾-length score in the Breeders’ Futurity (G1) at Keeneland.
“He’s done nothing wrong so far,” Toffey said. “He’s done everything we’ve asked of him, and he’s maybe even exceeded expectations. But it’s the Breeders Cup. He’s got some new challenges. His last start, he did have a long van ride, a new track and two turns and he handled all of those things well. I think that that bodes well for his ability to handle shipping out to Del Mar. He’ll have another long ship, new scenery, new surface, and, probably most importantly, some new and very good competition.
“It doesn’t get any easier, but certainly he has done everything right and hopefully we’ll get lucky and that will continue.
Tommy Jo is a Spendthrift homebred sired by the farm’s brilliant stallion, Into Mischief out of Mother Mother, twice a stakes winner who placed in seven graded stakes, three of them Grade 1. Mother Mother is a half-sister to Commanding Curve, the runner-up in the 2014 Kentucky Derby (G1).
After securing decisive victories in the maiden race and Spinaway (G1) at Saratoga, Tommy Jo won the Alcibiades (G1) at Keeneland when Percy’s Bar was disqualified from first because of a bumping incident in the stretch.
“No complaints with her,” Toffey said. “She’s not very far into her racing career and she’s a two-time Grade 1 winner.
“She’s very, very talented. It’s been interesting to watch the development. The two horses have been on a similar trajectory, they’ve run close to each other each time, and the results have been very similar, but I think you’d probably have to be a little happier with Ted Noffey, how he handled the ship to Kentucky and the stretch out.”
Bath time with Tommy Jo! pic.twitter.com/sVeTbrifuD
— Breeders' Cup (@BreedersCup) October 27, 2025
Toffey was not knocking Tommy Jo, but she was not as dynamic as she was in her one-turn races at Saratoga.
“Still, a very exciting filly and very excited about the opportunity to take her out to California,” Toffey said. “It’s the same situation. She’s got some really, really nice horses to contend with out there. It’s the Breeders’ Cup. It’s not, not a place where you are likely to find a soft spot.”
