The Champ Is Back: Ted Noffey Headlines a Loaded Belmont Saturday
The Breeders’ Cup hangover is officially over. One week after Sovereignty conquered the Classic at Keeneland, the sport hands us a Saturday stacked with stars, comebacks, and one of the most anticipated returns of the year. Grab your coffee, because Belmont Park, Churchill Downs, and Woodbine are all bringing the heat on November 7.
Start in Elmont, where the reimagined Belmont Park (open for live racing since September 18) delivers a four-stakes sequence. The headline act is Ted Noffey. The 2025 champion 2-year-old male went a perfect four for four as a juvenile, capped by the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile at Del Mar, then got knocked off the Triple Crown trail in January by bone bruising. Now the gray or roan Into Mischief colt finally makes his 3-year-old debut for Todd Pletcher and Spendthrift Farm in the Listed $200,000 Dwyer Stakes, a one-mile dirt test going as Race 8 at 3:12 p.m. ET. He is the 8-5 morning line favorite with John Velazquez aboard, one of 10 entered, with stakes winners Bravaro, Igniter, Sea Strike, and Mailata waiting to see if the champ still has it. Pletcher assistant Stu Hampson put it simply: “We’ve got him as fit as we can get him without running him.” I will be glued to the screen.
Thirty-one minutes later comes the Grade 2, $300,000 Mother Goose Stakes, back at Belmont after three seasons at Aqueduct and once again run around one turn at 1 1/16 miles. This is the race of Ruffian and Rachel Alexandra, and an 11-filly field is chasing that legacy. Bodacious Bay is the 5-2 morning line favorite for Saffie Joseph Jr. and Micah Husbands after a runaway win in the Grade 1 Cotillion at Parx, and she has never finished worse than second. The danger I fear most is Intrepids Fantasy (8-1), unbeaten in three starts in Delaware and now facing real company for Gary Capuano. Brad Cox sends Tap to Open (5-1), fourth in the Cotillion and cutting back to one turn, while Chad Brown’s Cognition (9-2) gets Flavien Prat. A shower or two is possible on Saturday, so keep an eye on the track condition. Post time is 3:43 p.m. ET.
Over at Churchill Downs, the Grade 3, $300,000 River City Stakes (Race 8, 4:25 p.m. ET) sends eight older turf horses 1 1/8 miles. Lambeth is the 9-5 choice for Joe Sharp and Jose Ortiz after rallying to win the Sycamore at Keeneland, and Ole Crazy Bone (3-1), a Grade 2 winner at Saratoga in July, is looking to bounce back. The wild card is Teao, a Chilean import with four Group 1 wins who makes his North American debut for John Sadler with Luis Saez aboard. I love a mystery horse at 6-1. An hour later, Bob Baffert’s Greenwich Village headlines 13 in the $300,000 Bet On Sunshine Stakes, six furlongs on the dirt at 5:25 p.m. ET.
North of the border, Woodbine runs three Grade 3 stakes worth C$175,000 apiece on its synthetic main track. Lupa is the even-money favorite in the 1 1/4-mile Maple Leaf (4:06 p.m. ET), with defending champion Sultana at 7-2. Runaway Again, winner of the Grade 3 Dominion Day in June, is the odds-on pick in a field of six for the 1 1/8-mile Autumn Stakes (5:10 p.m. ET), and the 7-furlong Bessarabian (5:42 p.m. ET) closes the show with 10 fillies and mares, led by 5-2 choice Reagan’s Flame and Josie Carroll’s Quadruple, fresh off her first stakes win.
Sunday is quieter, but Del Mar keeps the fun going on the third day of its Bing Crosby Season with the $100,000 Betty Grable Stakes for California-bred fillies and mares at seven furlongs, following Saturday’s Chosen Vron Stakes for Cal-bred sprinters.
Racing fans who like it fast can stay up for Sunday night’s $673,000 Los Alamitos Super Derby, a Grade 1 showdown for 3-year-old Quarter Horses.
So here is the bottom line: a champion returns, a classic filly race comes home, and a Chilean mystery man tests the Churchill turf. Enjoy the races!
