What a difference a year can make.
After a dazzling, perfect juvenile season and a lengthy hiatus, a "rusty" Ted Noffey failed to show the verve that made him an undefeated champion in his delayed 3-year-old debut.
The son of Into Mischief failed to fire in his first start since his Oct. 31, 2025, victory in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile (G1) as he finished fifth, beaten 12 1/2 lengths by the victorious Stimulate, in the $200,000 Dwyer Stakes for 3-year-olds Nov. 7 at Belmont Park.
It was the first loss in five career starts for Spendthrift Farm's Eclipse Award-winning 2-year-old male champ, who posted three grade 1 wins a year ago then was sidelined in late January because of bone bruising.
"He was probably a little rusty off the layoff. Anytime you have an undefeated 2-year-old champion you want to win. But we were also realistic that he hasn't run in 13 months and this is a difficult assignment," trainer Todd Pletcher said.
Ted Noffey and jockey John Velazquez were fifth in the field of eight much of the way in the mile stakes.
"Johnny said he put him in a good position. He was traveling pretty well," Pletcher said. "He just finished evenly, he couldn't find that burst late. But he galloped out good and (Velazquez) had a tough time pulling him up."
Pletcher said he would talk with the Spendthrift team before deciding on what's next for Ted Noffey.
"He was in great position the first part of the race. I thought he was going well. Just kind of was even the whole way around," Velazquez said.
Claiborne Farm and Adele Dilschneider's Stimulate ($20.56) was a decisive winner. Rallying from fourth, the homebred son of Tapit took charge in the stretch and motored to a 7 1/2-length win in a quick 1:33.64.
Trained by Bill Mott and ridden by Junior Alvarado, Stimulate posted his third win in five starts.
"Visually it was pretty good, I guess the time backed it up," Mott said.
A son of the multiple grade 1-winning mare Elate, he is her third foal and first stakes winner. Elate also has a Blame yearling colt and a 2026 Constitution colt.
Flanagan Racing's Curlin Stakes winner Sea Strike was second as the 6-5 favorite. The son of Midshipman trained by Chad Brown finished 1 1/2 lengths in front of Three Chimneys Farm's Igniter, a Volatile homebred trained by Rick Dutrow Jr.
"He was traveling well and I liked my position. He made a good run and just couldn't go by the winner," said Flavien Prat, who rode the runner-up.
