Cody's Wish Voted Top Older Dirt Male

In recent years, the Eclipse Award for the outstanding older dirt male has been the private domain for the older route runners who have shined in races such as the Whitney Stakes (G1), Pacific Classic Stakes (G1), and Breeders' Cup Classic (G1).

Recent years' champions such as Flightline  , Knicks Go  , Improbable  , and Vino Rosso   surely fit into that mold.

In 2023, Cody's Wish   broke through that glass ceiling.

Even with the résumé of a brilliant miler, Godolphin's now 6-year-old homebred son of Curlin   was named the champion older dirt male at the 53rd Eclipse Awards dinner Jan. 25 in Palm Beach, Fla.

Owner of a record of four wins in five 2023 starts, his victories under regular rider Junior Alvarado came at a mile or less and his lone defeat took place at 1 1/8 miles in the Whitney, when a lack of suitable mile tests at that time of the year prompted trainer Bill Mott and the connections to test him at a distance beyond his scope.

Cody's Wish finished third that day, suffering his lone defeat in his last nine races.

But at his sweet spot of a mile or seven furlongs, the son of the Tapit   mare Dance Card  was perfect, winning the seven-furlong Churchill Downs Stakes (G1); the prestigious Metropolitan Handicap (G1), a mile race in which he defeated Whitney and Breeders' Cup Classic victor White Abarrio ; the seven-furlong Vosburgh Stakes (G2); and, finally his epic career finale in the Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile (G1), when he prevailed in a pulsating stretch duel with Preakness Stakes (G1) winner National Treasure .

"The only time he dropped out of grade 1 company was the Vosburgh because there were no grade 1 stakes for him. He beat a very good field in the Met Mile, which included the Classic winner, and beat a classic winner in the Dirt Mile. He faced quality competition throughout the year and was deserving of the award," said Michael Banahan, Godolphin USA's director of bloodstock.

Cody's Wish, who will always be associated with the poignant story of the boy for whom he is named, the late Cody Dorman, a teenager who lost his struggle with the genetic disorder Wolf-Hirschhorn syndrome a day after being in the winner's circle for the Dirt Mile, was just the second back-to-back winner of the Dirt Mile.

"It took a little while to get him to the winner's circle but once he broke his maiden he only lost twice and that was when he went beyond a mile," Banahan said. "His career was a testament to Bill Mott and his crew which got him to that level last year and he never dropped off. We know how difficult it is to keep them at that pitch-perfect level and Cody's Wish was able to sustain his stellar form throughout the year."

Godolphin's first Eclipse Award recipient in the older dirt male category, Cody's Wish earned $1,773,900 in 2023 and closed out his career with a mark of 11-1-4 in 16 starts with earnings of $3,106,030.

The other finalists were Elite Power   and White Abarrio.