(Cody’s Wish / Photo by Holly M. Smith)

Press Release:

BREEDERS’ CUP CHAMPION CODY’S WISH TAKES HOME HORSE OF THE YEAR HONORS AT ECLIPSE AWARDS

Seven 2023 Breeders’ Cup World Championships Winners Received Top Honors in Their Respective Divisions at the 53rd Annual Eclipse Awards

A determined victory in the 2023 Big Ass Fans Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile (G1) carried Cody’s Wish to the pinnacle of the sport Jan. 25 when the Godolphin homebred was named Horse of the Year and Champion Older Dirt Male at the 53rd annual Eclipse Awards.

Seven Breeders’ Cup winners received top honors in their respective divisions Thursday: Cody’s Wish, Qatar Racing Breeders’ Cup Sprint (G1) winner Elite Power, FanDuel Breeders’ Cup Juvenile (G1) winner Fierceness, PNC Bank Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Sprint (G1) winner Goodnight Olive, Longines Breeders’ Cup Distaff (G1) winner Idiomatic, Maker’s Mark Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Turf (G1) winner Inspiral (GB), and NetJets Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies (G1) winner Just F Y I.

WATCH: Relive the thrill of the 2023 Breeders’ Cup World Championships

Cody’s Wish is the 23rd Breeders’ Cup World Championships winner and first winner of the Dirt Mile – a race inaugurated in 2007 – to be named Horse of the Year. A 5-year-old in 2023, the son of Curlin made his season debut for Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott on May 5 with a 4 3/4-length victory in the Churchill Downs Stakes Presented by Ford (G1), then took the June 10 Hill ‘N’ Dale Metropolitan Handicap (G1) by 3 1/4 lengths. His lone loss came when stretching out to 1 1/8 miles in the Aug. 5 Whitney Handicap (G1), in which he finished third. Shortened back to seven furlongs, he galloped in the Oct. 1 Vosburgh Stakes (G2) in preparation for a title defense in the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile, a race he won in determined fashion in 2022 at Keeneland.

The world watched with bated breath Nov. 4 as Cody’s Wish and regular rider Junior Alvarado stepped into the starting gate at Santa Anita Park. Cody Dorman, the bay colt’s namesake, was watching from the winner’s circle with his family. The heartwarming story of the magical connection between the colt and Dorman, a young man born with Wolf-Hirschhorn Syndrome, would culminate in this final race on the global stage.

Cody’s Wish trailed the field of seven early, but began to close the gap on the backstretch and had moved up to third entering the final turn. Preakness Stakes (G1) winner National Treasure maintained the advantage until inside the eighth pole, when Cody’s Wish ranged up on the outside and dug deep to battle for the win. After a stewards’ inquiry into the stretch run, no change was ordered. Cody’s Wish delivered his Hollywood ending by a nose, then was retired to stand at Darley’s Jonabell Farm. Sadly, Cody Dorman passed away Nov. 5 after suffering a medical event on a flight home from Los Angeles. He was 17.

Kelly and Leslie Dorman, Cody Dorman’s parents, and his younger sister Kylie joined the connections of Cody’s Wish in accepting Horse of the Year honors.

“I hope you guys got a TV in front of the stall down at Jonabell right now, because I want to thank Cody’s Wish for everything he’s done,” Kelly Dorman said. “I know everyone here, you guys just blow me away because I know you put your heart in these horses day in and day out. That’s your life. And I know a lot of times those horses put their hearts into you. Jockeys, trainers, owners, everybody. That horse put his heart into us… It’s such an honor to be here to accept this on behalf of Godolphin, Cody’s Wish, and everybody else, and I want to let you guys know how much it means.”

Eclipse Awards are voted upon by the NTRA, Daily Racing Form (DRF), and the National Turf Writers And Broadcasters (NTWAB). Cody’s Wish received 134 votes over Longines Breeders’ Cup Classic (G1) winner White Abarrio (37) and Longines Breeders’ Cup Distaff winner Idiomatic (21) as the top three finalists in the Horse of the Year category. For the second consecutive season, the heartwarming story of Cody’s Wish was voted the 2023 FanDuel Racing-NTRA Moment of the Year, based on the results of nearly 4,000 votes cast by fans via X and an online poll.

Cody’s Wish becomes the seventh winner of a Breeders’ Cup World Championships race other than the Longines Breeders’ Cup Classic to be named Horse of the Year, joining Lady’s Secret, Kotashaan (FR), Favorite Trick, Azeri, Wise Dan, and Bricks and Mortar.

Bill Mott, named Outstanding Trainer in 1995, 1996, and 2011, took home top honors against his peers for a 2023 season in which his contenders collected 24 graded stakes wins and a career-high $17,437,147 in earnings. He campaigned 10 individual Grade 1 winners in 2023, including Cody’s Wish, Elite Power, and Just F Y I.

Juddmonte’s Elite Power (Champion Male Sprinter), a son of Curlin bred by Alpha Delta Stables, and Goodnight Olive (Champion Female Sprinter), a daughter of Ghostzapper campaigned by First Row Partners and Team Hanley and bred by Stonestreet Thoroughbred Holdings LLC,  collected their second consecutive Eclipse Awards after successfully defending their titles in their respective divisions at the Breeders’ Cup World Championships.

Juddmonte’s homebred Idiomatic was named Champion Older Dirt Female after capping a nearly perfect 8-for-9 season for trainer Brad Cox. The daughter of Curlin put the cherry on top of a five-race win streak when she charged home in the Longines Breeders’ Cup Distaff to collect her third straight Grade 1 score.

On Future Stars Friday at the World Championships, Repole Stable’s homebred Fierceness soared to a 6 1/4-length win in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile and George Krikorian’s homebred Just F Y I eked out a score by a neck in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies. Fierceness, by City of Light, earned top honors as Champion 2-Year-Old Male while Just F Y I, a daughter of Justify, took home the Champion 2-Year-Old Female award.

Irad Ortiz Jr., a five-time winner of the Breeders’ Cup Bill Shoemaker Award (2018-21, 2023), collected his fifth Eclipse Award for Outstanding Jockey. Ortiz won the 2023 Longines Breeders’ Cup Classic on White Abarrio and rode Elite Power and Goodnight Olive to their respective victories at the World Championships.

Since the first running of the Breeders’ Cup World Championships in 1984, 273 Breeders’ Cup contenders have gone on to become Eclipse Award winners.

NBC’s Breeders’ Cup Broadcast Garners Top Honors

For the fourth consecutive year, NBC won the Eclipse Award for live television programming for its broadcast on NBC, Peacock, and the USA Network, of the 40th Breeders’ Cup World Championships from Santa Anita Park in Arcadia, Calif.

NBC showcased the captivating action of the World Championships, from the dramatic stretch duel between Cody’s Wish and National Treasure in the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile to the dominant performance of White Abarrio in the Longines Breeders’ Cup Classic. To enhance its production, NBC utilized access to approximately 75 video sources, including cameras and feeds; and among other technologies, a special gyro camera on a vehicle inside the rail on the backstretch, providing a live wide-angle perspective as the horses raced with the San Gabriel Mountains as the backdrop, and an RF Super Slo Mo camera, used for the first time on NBC Sports’ horse racing coverage.

Simancik Earns Photography Award for Breeders’ Cup Image

Carolyn Simancik, who has been photographing for Eclipse Sportswire since 2018, captured the most dramatic finish of the 2023 Breeders’ Cup World Championships in “Trading Horse Paint,” which appeared on The Pressbox website on Nov. 4, 2023. Simancik zeroed in on the unrelenting battle in the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile between Cody’s Wish and National Treasure and took home her first Eclipse Award for the winning photo, which may be viewed here.