Favorite Ted Noffey cemented his campaign for the 2-year-old title of the year and all but guaranteed his place as next year’s Kentucky Derby favorite with a scintillating and pressing victory in the $2 million juvenile as the highlight of Future Stars Friday at the 42nd Breeders’ Cup World Championships at the Del Mar Thoroughbred Club just north of San Diego.
The Juvenile and Juvenile fillies, both valued at $2 million, were the featured pair of races among the five Grade 1 championship events held on the first day, limited to 2-year-old horses.
Ted Noffey, who started at 4/5 odds in the six-horse juvenile that was narrowed by two scratches, sat just outside the pace set by 8/5 second choice Brant and surged as the pair headed home, maintaining his margin throughout the stretch under Hall of Fame jockey John Velasquez.
Ted Noffey came to the wire a length ahead of the latecomer Mr. AP, a long shot 20-1. Brant held on to third place, a head behind the runner-up. The time was 1:42.25 for the 1 1/16 mile dirt race.
Raised in Kentucky and owned by Spendthrift Farms LLC, the name Ted Noffey comes from a social media post that misspelled Spendthrift CEO Ned Toffey. He won all four starts of his career, including the Hopeful and the Breeders’ Futurity, both Grade 1 races.
Ted Noffey’s performance gave Hall of Fame trainer Todd Pletcher his 16th career Breeders’ Cup victory and Velasquez his 21st at the Championships, second all-time.
Super Corredora went wire-to-wire to win the juvenile fillies, racing 1 1/16 miles on dirt, never letting up while outlasting race favorite Explora by 3/4 length in 1:43.71. Super Corredora, who was bred in Kentucky, was ridden by Hector Berrios (who won his first ever Breeders’ Cup race), is trained by John Sadler and is owned by Spartan Equine Racing LLC, West Point Thoroughbreds, Robert C. Gardiner and Michael W. Olszewski.
Runner-up Explora, who started at odds of 3/2, was 3 3/4 lengths ahead of Percy’s Barn, who was bumped twice at the top of the stretch but took out Meaning at the finish line to take third place at odds of 7-1.
Super Corredora’s victory was only his second in four career starts, his most recent race being a maiden victory over a mile at Santa Anita by 8 1/4 lengths on October 11.
In the other Championship events on Friday:
– The million-dollar Juvenile Fillies Turf was a wild surprise, with 20-1 Balantina (IRE) taking the lead at the 16th pole and winning by 1 1/4 lengths over Ground Support (14-1) and Pacific Mission (24-1), who was in third. Balantina is owned by Medallion Racing, Parkland Thoroughbreds, Reeves Thoroughbred and Lissa Ann McNulty, and is trained by Donnacha O’Brien, the 27-year-old son of British Hall of Fame conditioner Aiden O’Brien.
Oisin Murphy rode Balantina to victory in the one-mile event, with the trainer’s first Breeders’ Cup victory and second for the jockey.
Balantina was 1 for 5 in her lifetime before winning Friday’s Juvenile Fillies Turf. The race was thrown wide open when Precise, Aidan O’Brien’s Irish charge and 6/5 favorite when the draw was announced, was scratched on Friday morning due to a cough. Precise had won four consecutive races in Europe, including two Group 1s.
– Cy Fair opened Friday’s Breeders’ Cup card with a 3/4-length victory in the $1 million Juvenile Turf Sprint, a five-furlong blitz. Cy Fair was bred in Kentucky and is owned by a partnership consisting of Medallion Racing, Swinbank Stables LLC, Joey Platts and Mark Stanton. He is trained by George Weaver and ridden by Irad Ortiz Jr. and was sent off at odds of 5-1, covering the firm turf course in 56.02 seconds.
He crossed underwire past late-arriving Brussels (GB), which was 6-1 and 1 1/4 ahead of Aspect Island (GB), 28-1. Race favorite True Love (IRE) finished eighth among the 12 horses.
It was Weaver’s first Breeders’ Cup victory. Cy Fair is 3-for-4 in his career, with a second-place finish beaten by a neck. He has now won in New York, Toronto and San Diego in the last two and a half months.
– Favorite Gstaad prevailed at the far post to win the $1 million Juvenile Turf by 3/4 length. Sent to the post at odds of 6/5, the Irish-bred colt waited in the pack chasing the front runners in the 14-horse field for a mile on the grass before asserting himself at the eighth pole and then holding his grip for 3/4 length when 50-1 Stark Contrast came charging down the rail.
North Coast (IRE) finished third by 2 1/4 lengths at odds of 16-1.
Gstaad, who is owned by Derrick Smith, Mrs John Magnier and Michael Tabor and trained by Aiden O’Brien, was led to victory by Christophe Soumillon. He won three of his six career races and ended a streak of three consecutive second-place finishes.
Nine other races for divisional titles for horses 3 years and older will be contested Saturday, including the $5 million Turf and the $7 million Classic, the latter carrying the largest purse in horse racing in the Western Hemisphere.
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