Oct. 4 was Stable Recovery Day at Keeneland, celebrating the program that promotes breaking addiction through purposeful work, structured recovery, and meaningful careers in the Thoroughbred industry. It only was right then, that on Stable Recovery Day, it would be trainer Will Walden who emerged victorious in the $1.25 million Coolmore Turf Mile Stakes.

That victory came on the back of Rhetorical, a 4-year-old Not This Time gelding bred in New York by Mallory and Karen Mort and owned by Gary Barber, Cheyenne Stable, and Wachtel Stable.

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Having competed in New York-bred company in four of his five starts — winning all but his second career effort — taking the leap to Grade 1 competition was aggressive. However, Walden was confident in the gelding’s ability since before he debuted and he was convinced to take the shot as soon as Rhetorical arrived at Churchill Downs following his Aug. 24 victory in the West Point Stakes Presented by Rood & Riddle Equine Hospital at Saratoga Race Course.

“All those metrics we look for in judging our stock and how they’re doing just started to go through the roof,” Walden said. “The works were really, really, really good. He’s got an exercise rider back home, Edgar Quinteros, some of the best hands on the backstretch. Gets along with him really, really well. And he teed him up for this race.”

Jockey Irad Ortiz Jr. also was confident, opting to stay aboard Rhetorical over two other entrants he had ridden in their previous starts: Howard Wolowitz and Donegal Momentum (the latter wound up being scratched Saturday).

“[Rhetorical] knows how to win. He loves to win, and he’s always been a nice horse,” Ortiz said.  “[Walden] was taking the horse one step at a time — the right way.”

Those steps worked perfectly as Ortiz found himself positioned fourth, about 4 1/2 lengths off the lead, as Quatrocento set quick quarter-mile fractions of :22.40, :46.07, and 1:10.08. Ortiz then launched his bid at the top of the stretch and cruised to the lead, withstanding the late charges of Program Trading, Brilliant Berti, and Jonquil, who finished second through fourth, respectively.

Rhetorical won by three-quarters of a length while completing the mile in 1:33.61 on firm turf, paying $21.18 to win.

Trainer Will Walden holds up the trophy after the Turf Mile Stakes. (Anne M. Eberhardt/BloodHorse)

It was a monumental victory for Walden as he earned his first at the Grade 1 level. The son of Belmont Stakes-winning trainer and WinStar Farm President Elliott Walden, Will Walden began training in 2022 after years of battling alcohol and drug addiction.

Walden was involved in a downtown Lexington program to aid in his recovery from addiction when he was connected with Taylor Made Farm’s Frank Taylor. Taylor took a chance and bought 10 horses for Walden, Mike Lowery, and Tyler Maxwell to train. Lowery now works for Taylor Made, managing 250 horses and 25 employees, and Maxwell is with WinStar Farm.

“They worked very hard, and Will’s a very, very talented horseman,” Taylor said after joining Walden in the winner’s circle. “They all stayed sober, and they’ve all become hugely successful. God blesses you for doing the right thing, and this is just a prime example.”

The win was made even more special for Walden as Rhetorical’s sire, Not This Time, stands at Taylor Made.

“I wouldn’t have been able to start training if it weren’t for Frank Taylor,” Walden said. “To nobody’s fault, I had burned every bridge I had walked over in this business. Nobody was going to give me an opportunity, and I couldn’t blame them. He put up his own money. To win with a son of Not This Time is just fitting. To do it on Stable Recovery Day here at Keeneland, God does what God does.”

Now with the Grade 1 under his belt, Walden and Rhetorical will look to take an even bigger step forward Nov. 1 as he aims to face the world’s best milers in the $2 million FanDuel Breeders’ Cup Mile Presented by PDJF at Del Mar. As part of the Breeders’ Cup Challenge series, the Turf Mile earned Rhetorical an automatic, fees-paid berth to the Mile.

“As long as he comes out of this race in good shape and gives us all the signs he was going into this race, we’ll go to the Breeders’ Cup,” Walden said.

Ted Noffey Dazzles in Breeders’ Futurity

Spendthrift Farm started the Keeneland all meet the way it wrapped up the Saratoga Race Course summer season: by winning the two major Grade 1 main track races for juveniles in the meet’s opening two days, plus three other races Saturday at Keeneland, owning those horses either solely or in partnership.

Tommy Jo, who captured the Spinaway Stakes at Saratoga, took the Oct. 3 Darley Alcibiades Stakes at Keeneland via disqualification. Then Oct. 4, Ted Noffey, a romping Spendthrift Farm Hopeful Stakes winner at Saratoga, aced his first two-turn test in rolling to a 2 3/4-length victory over Blackout Time in the $642,594 Claiborne Breeders’ Futurity.

Ted Noffey winning Breeders' Futurity (Anne M. Eberhardt/BloodHorse)

The Lexington-based farm tacked on additional wins elsewhere around the country Saturday, including with Tamara in the Grade 3 Chillingworth Stakes at Santa Anita Park.

But Ted Noffey — humorously named after a transposed social media post meant to describe Spendthrift Farm general manager Ned Toffey — was the star of the Spendthrift show. And in turn, so was Toffey, whose hands and back were repeatedly slapped in congratulations Saturday by friends and family.

“It’s really the best part of it,” Toffey said of sharing the experience.

Seemingly everyone felt good about Ted Noffey’s performance, in which he pressed trainer Bob Baffert’s California invader Litmus Test through easy quarter-mile fractions of :23.96, :48.23, and 1:12.62, before asserting his authority and repelling a stretch bid from stalker Blackout Time. The victorious gray or roan colt raced 1 1/16 miles on a fast track in 1:43.98 under Hall of Fame jockey John Velazquez, with a final sixteenth of a mile in 6.55 seconds.

“Once he opened up in the lane, he started easing up, waiting for the other horses, so I was kind of keeping him busy,” said Velazquez, who won his third Breeders’ Futurity.

Blackout Time, who raced in third place early, could not gain any ground on Ted Noffey through the lane. He finished 2 1/4 lengths clear of the show finisher, Litmus Test.

Diciassette, Spice Runner, and Big Dom completed the six-horse order of finish.

Ted Noffey in complete command (BloodHorse/Mathea Kelley)

In improving to 3-for-3, Ted Noffey paid $3.84 to win as the favorite. Preceding his Hopeful win, he won a maiden race at Saratoga on debut.

As a dual Grade 1-winning son of Spendthrift’s six-time leading general sire Into Mischief, Ted Noffey has earned his place in the Spendthrift stallion barn upon his retirement from racing.

He gave Hall of Fame trainer Todd Pletcher a fifth win in the Breeders’ Futurity, a race he likes to garner two-turn experience ahead of the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile.

“It’s been a good prep for us. It’s a significant race in its own right,” he said.

As the only two-time Grade 1-winning 2-year-old colt in the country, Ted Noffey is very likely to be favored in the Oct. 31 FanDuel Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Presented by Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance at Del Mar. He earned a paid, automatic berth in that race with the Breeders’ Futurity being part of the Breeders’ Cup Challenge Series.

Separately, Ted Noffey also earned 10 qualifying points toward the 2026 Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs, and those running second through fifth earned points on a 5-3-2-1 basis.

Blackout Time’s trainer, Ken McPeek, suggested he may forgo the Juvenile with his colt, mentioning the Grade 2 Kentucky Jockey Club Stakes in late November at Churchill Downs as a target before the Kentucky Derby preps of 2026.—Byron King

Simply in Front is Simply the Best in First Lady

It seemed only fitting that jockey Ben Curtis’ first Grade 1 win would come aboard a horse trained by Eddie Kenneally.

“I came over for Eddie many moons ago. In the winter, there was no racing in Ireland, so I came over,” said Curtis, who worked for him at Palm Meadows Training Center in Florida.

Simply in Front winning First Lady (Eclipse Sportswire)

“He used to tell me I was breezing them all wrong and getting it all wrong,” Curtis remarked with a wry smile.

Curtis and Kenneally combined to win their first graded stakes together with the fast-improving Simply in Front in the $776,750 First Lady Stakes.

“It’s great to come over here and get a big win like this for [Kenneally] because he put me on a lot of winners and really got me established,” Curtis said.

Saturday’s race was only the second time that Curtis had ridden Simply in Front. The first time came in the Aug. 30 Never Say Die Ladies Turf Sprint Stakes at Kentucky Downs, where the pair fell three-quarters of a length short of catching Ag Bullet in a stirring stretch drive.

“The key was to get her to relax,” Curtis said. “We’ve seen that finish she’s produced a few times, at Ellis and Churchill. She really closes up the stretch. So I gave her every chance and when a seam came I put her in there and she did the rest. I just enjoyed the ride. She’s a filly who enjoys her job.”—Molly Rollins

Praying Sends Trainer Medina to Breeders’ Cup With TCA Win

Keeneland has always been a special place for trainer Robert Medina, and now it has gifted him with his first Breeders’ Cup berth as 3-year-old filly Praying stepped up and conquered older horses in the $398,750 Thoroughbred Club of America Stakes.

Praying winning TCA Stakes (Coady Media)

“I came here when I was 10 years old in 1983 with my father,” Medina said. “To win a stakes here is unbelievable.”

That trip to Lexington with his dad, Robert, who worked as a foreman for trainers in Ohio, is what sealed the deal for Medina when it came to being involved in racing. Now, just six years into his own training career, he is a three-time graded stakes-winning trainer.

One of three sophomore fillies in the seven-horse field, Newtown Anner Stud Farm’s Praying was overlooked by the bettors and paid $21.74 to win despite exiting a victory in the Grade 3 Prioress Stakes at Saratoga Race Course Aug. 30. Hall of Fame jockey John Velazquez gave her a Hall of Fame ride as she sat midpack behind Long Neck Paula’s quarter-mile fractions of :22.23 and :45.33.

Moving up around the far turn, she engaged Grade 1 winner Vahva at the quarter-pole and the two swept past Long Neck Paula. Battling to the line, it was the younger Praying who emerged victorious by a half-length, completing 6 furlongs in 1:10.49.

Zeitlos, who won the race last year, was third.—Sean Collins

Khaadem Rallies From Last to First in Woodford

Old guys ruled in the Grade 2 Woodford Stakes Presented by FanDuel as Khaadem, age 9, and Frankie Dettori, ever young at 54, swept from last to first in the stretch to win by a neck.

Khaadem winning Woodford (Eclipse Sportswire)

The race itself was replete with seniors, including another 9-year-old, Charcoal, 7-year-old Arrest Me Red, and a pair of 6-year-olds. But it was Khaadem’s day and, as Dettori said, the admitted character “decided to run.”

Sometimes a problem at the gate, the starting crew had worked with Khaadem prior to the race and he loaded well but then had to wait while another entrant who had broken through the barrier was reloaded. Once sprung, he dropped to the back in the 5 1/2-furlong turf sprint.

“He fluffed the start. That’s why he was so far back,” Dettori said. And trainer Charlie Hills said, “I was a bit worried” when Khaadem turned into the stretch still last of eight.

But he quickly picked things up outside opponents and swept by them in the final sixteenth.

“I got him in a good spot and he decided to run,” Dettori said. “He’s a character and we love him for it.”—Bob Kieckhefer