In his stakes debut, Ted Noffey moved toward the front entering the stretch and drew off late for a decisive victory in the $300,000 Grade 1 Spendthrift Farm Hopeful Stakes Sept. 1 at Saratoga Race Course.

Ted Noffey completed the seven-furlong test for 2-year-olds in 1:22.35 on a fast track. The winner is trained by Todd Pletcher and was guided to victory by jockey John Velazquez.

In addition to being the sponsors of the race, Spendthrift Farm also happens to be the owner of Ted Noffey. The colt is named for Ned Toffey, the general manager of Spendthrift Farm whose name was transposed in a social media post with the first letters of his names reversed. He's now beaming with pride as his name, for the most part, is tied to an exciting 2-year-old Grade 1 stakes winner.

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"I was just hoping he'd be faster than me," Ned Toffey said about Ted Noffey. "It's really nice, but what I like best is that a win like this is the result of all the hard work we put in."

With his convincing 8 1/2-length win in the Hopeful, Ted Noffey surged to the head of the East's 2-year-old male division. The victory in the closing day feature at the Spa was the son of Into Mischief's second win in as many starts. The way Ted Noffey drew clear in the stretch of the seven-furlong Hopeful was impressive to the eye and a solid indicator of his ability to handle two turns in longer upcoming races such as the FanDuel Breeders' Cup Juvenile presented by TAA.

"The name part is great, but we want him to go on and do more," Toffey said. "Hopefully the story is not done."

Eric Gustavson, owner of Spendthrift Farm, said the name was a "great way" to honor Toffey.

"He's an amazing guy. He does an unbelievable job for us, and not only that, he's a great person and I'm proud to have him as a friend."

The Hopeful capped a sensational weekend for Spendthrift, which won the Aug. 30 Grade 1 Spinaway Stakes for 2-year-old fillies with homebred Tommy Jo.

"To get a sweep of these two races, especially for me who grew up an hour from here (in Great Barrington, Mass.), it's pretty special," Toffey said.

Ned Toffey leads Ted Noffey into the winner's circle. (Adam Coglianese/NYRA)

Ted Noffey broke alertly under Velazquez and was closer to the pace than in his Aug. 2 debut maiden win. As Soldier N Diplomat set the pace of :23.16 and :46.30, Velazquez had Ted Noffey racing a joint second on the outside, about a length behind. Approaching the quarter pole, Ted Noffey surged to the front and was unchallenged from there.

"He (traveled) a lot better than I thought he would. He's still a baby. His turn of foot is incredible," Velazquez said. "I'm as excited as ever. It never gets old. Riding good horses like this is what keeps you coming back. You get excited, and when they win it's even better."

As the 7-2 third choice on the tote board, Ted Noffey paid $9.62 to win as the New York Racing Association's new penny breakage format went into effect Monday. West Coast shipper Buetane trained by Bob Baffert finished a distant second by a head over third-place Curtain Call, who is part-owned by social media influencer Griffin Johnson. Soldier N Diplomat faded to fourth.

"He finished up strong and galloped out great. It was everything you'd hope to see," said Pletcher, whose fifth Hopeful win gave him 32 wins at the meet and earned him a share of his 15th Saratoga training title along with Chad Brown. "You never know when you jump into a race like this with a lot of horses coming off wins, but it was as good and maybe even more than we expected."

Pletcher said the Oct. 4 two-turn Grade 1 Claiborne Breeders' Futurity at Keeneland is a likely next start for Ted Noffey.