Who Else? Cody's Wish Crowned 2023 Horse Of The Year
The National Thoroughbred Racing Association (NTRA), Daily Racing Form, and the National Turf Writers and Broadcasters (NTWAB) announced tonight that Cody’s Wish, who won four races last year including the Big Ass Fans Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile (G1), was named the 2023 Horse of the Year at the 53rd Annual Eclipse Awards ceremony, presented by FanDuel TV, John Deere, Keeneland, and The Jockey Club, at The Breakers Palm Beach.
The Eclipse Awards, honoring excellence in North American Thoroughbred racing, are voted on by the NTRA, consisting of member racetrack racing officials and Equibase field personnel, Daily Racing Form (DRF), and the National Turf Writers and Broadcasters.
Owned by Godolphin and trained by Bill Mott, Cody’s Wish received 134 out of a possible 219 first-place votes for Horse of the Year. As a 5-year-old, Cody’s Wish, a son of two-time Horse of the Year Curlin out of Dance Card by Tapit, won four of five starts, including three Grade 1 races. Cody’s Wish made his 2023 debut winning the 7-furlong Churchill Downs Stakes (G1) in May, followed by the Hill ‘N’ Dale Metropolitan Handicap (G1) at Belmont Park in June. He suffered his only defeat of the year when he was third in the 1 1/8-mile Whitney (G1) at Saratoga in August. He bounced back in October at Aqueduct to win the Vosburgh Stakes (G2), before capturing the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile (G1).
Cody’s Wish was named after Cody Dorman, a boy born with Wolf-Hirschhorn Syndrome, which severely restricts body movements. Cody Dorman, in a wheelchair, bonded with a foal at a meeting at Godolphin’s Gainsborough Farm in 2018. That foal was named Cody’s Wish, and beginning in 2022 that bond became a national story as Cody’s Wish developed into a top-flight racehorse and Cody Dorman and his family attended many of his races. Sadly, Cody Dorman died the day after watching Cody’s Wish win the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile on his return home to Kentucky.
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Following Cody’s Wish in the Horse of the Year voting was the 4-year-old White Abarrio, with 37 votes ― who defeated Cody’s Wish in the Whitney ― and the 4-year-old filly and Champion Older Dirt Female Idiomatic, with 21 votes. Cody’s Wish also was voted the Eclipse Award for Older Dirt Male.
