Cody's Wish Aims for a Final Poignant Win in Dirt Mile

The spectacular sprinter and miler whose extraordinary talent as a racehorse is matched only by his keen emotional intelligence, Cody's Wish   will make what is likely to be his final start Nov. 4 in the Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile (G1)—the same race that brought him widespread mainstream acclaim when he won it last year. 

If you're a reader of BloodHorse then you already know the story. The beauty of it, though, is it's the rare story that never gets old. Even if every chapter ends in the most predictable fashion—with another victory that leads to another winner's circle reunion between Cody's Wish and his biggest fan, Cody Dorman—it only makes us that much more grateful to have witnessed it at all.  

It was more than five years ago that Dorman—the teenager from Richmond, Ky., born with a severe condition, Wolf-Hirschhorn syndrome—visited Godolphin's Gainsborough Farm as part of a tour arranged by the Make-a-Wish Foundation and Keeneland. There Dorman met several mares and foals, including this unnamed colt by Curlin  , who immediately took a shining to him. 

"He kept tugging, working his way closer to Cody," remembered Cody Dorman's father, Kelly Dorman. "He didn't act scared or aggressive. He sniffed around on his chair a little bit, and his legs, and then just put his head down in his lap. And nobody said anything. We just—everybody got really quiet, and just appreciated the moment."

Godolphin named the foal for Dorman, who has attended as many of Cody's Wish's races as possible, watching him evolve into a multiple grade 1 winner, a Breeders' Cup legend, and, for most of this year, the highest-rated horse competing in the United States. And every time they would see each other, Cody's Wish recognized and gave some love to his old friend, Dorman.

"Horses are so wonderful and most of them understand that someone is a child," said Cody's Wish's Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott. "It's an amazing thing and one of those you can't explain but you can see it when they join up."

Cody's Wish is the morning-line favorite for the Dirt Mile and will likely be a shorter price than big-race linemakers are usually permitted to advertise. He is 7-for-7 at the distance and hasn't lost a race at a mile or less in a year-and-a-half. His only blemish this season was an experiment going longer, when he finished third in the 1 1/8-mile Whitney Stakes (G1). 

There are no gimmes at the Breeders' Cup, though, and recall that Cody's Wish got up by "only" a neck when favored in this race last year. In his most recent outing, the seven-furlong Vosburgh Stakes (G2) at the Belmont at the Big A meet, he got the job done by 1 1/2 lengths but not in as flashy a manner as one has come to expect, especially against a lesser field than he faced earlier in the season.

"It was enough," Mott said. "It wasn’t one of those 'wow' races; he worked it out. Slow pace, got off a little bad, got up in close position, and was getting away at the wire. He didn’t zing by them because, obviously, they kept running in front of him, because the pace wasn’t that fast."

The Dirt Mile's controlling speed is likely to be Zozos , who is unbeaten at one mile for trainer Brad Cox. The Cox barn has a penchant for showing up when it matters most, boasting a 29% Breeders' Cup win clip (31% when not including two Cox-trained horses that lost to Cox-trained winners). 

Other contenders include two of this year's fastest 3-year-olds. National Treasure  was a stylish front-running winner of the Preakness Stakes (G1) for trainer Bob Baffert but has not hit the board in three tries since. Late bloomer Dreamlike  broke his maiden at the start of the Saratoga Race Course meet for trainer Todd Pletcher and used that as a springboard to the Pennsylvania Derby (G1), where he closed strongly to finish second.  

The Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile is expected to go with seven after two major withdrawals since entry day. Santa Anita Derby (G1) winner Practical Move  died Tuesday, the morning after entries were drawn, due to what Breeders' Cup officials reported was a "cardiac event." Dubai World Cup (G1) runner-up Algiers  was announced as a scratch Wednesday morning as a result of "a minor foot issue," according to a post on X by the Gainsborough Thoroughbreds account of joint trainers Simon and Ed Crisford. 

READ: Practical Move Dies of Apparent Cardiac Event

The Dirt Mile and Cody's Wish kick off the NBC Sports coverage as Saturday's first Breeders' Cup event and race 3 on the Santa Anita card.