Cody’s Wish (left) and Elite Power could face each other in the Forego (NYRA/Coglianese)
NYRA Press Office
ELMONT, N.Y.— Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott has a dilemma to resolve and it’s where to run his multiple Grade 1 winners Cody’s Wish and Elite Power next on the road back to defend their respective championships in the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile and the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Sprint in November.
Juddmonte Farm’s Elite Power, the 2022 Eclipse Award-winning Male Sprinter, dominated the Grade 2 True North on Saturday’s Belmont Stakes undercard. It was the 5-year-old son of Curlin’s seventh straight win. Cody’s Wish won his sixth straight race and overshadowed the competition in the Hill ‘n’ Dale Metropolitan Handicap with his 3 1/4-length triumph.
The Met Mile win gave Godolphin’s Cody’s Wish, also a 5-year-old Curlin horse, a guaranteed spot in the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile at Santa Anita in November through the “Win and You’re In” Challenge Series.
What will they do for an encore? It appears a battle royale between the stable stars could be shaping up at Saratoga this summer in the Grade 1, $500,000 Forego, a seven-furlong sprint for older horses on August 26.
“They could possibly run against each other in the Forego. That would be the only race I could conceive,” Mott said on Sunday morning. “The timing of that race and the distance, it would be back to seven furlongs for Cody’s Wish and up to seven eights for Elite Power. I could see it happening. I wouldn’t rule it out.”
Elite Power is on track to the Spa’s Grade 1, $350,000 Alfred G. Vanderbilt Handicap on July 29, providing all stays on course.
“I think the most logical for him is the Alfred G. Vanderbilt. It’s a Grade 1 sprint at six furlongs and between that and the Forego up there you’ve got two good races. The Forego would be a possibility for Cody’s Wish, too. It just depends on what we do with Cody’s Wish next time. We’ll have to work that out as we go along,” Mott said.
The Grade 1, $1 million Whitney at 1 1/8 miles on August 5 isn’t out of the question for Cody’s Wish either, according to his trainer, though his ideal distance seems to be one-mile.
“He’s won several races at the mile distance. He’s won at the one-turn mile and at a two-turn mile. He’s never won beyond a mile. Those are some of the challenges that we face now with where we go and what race we’re going to run in. That will be under discussion over the next month,” said Mott.
What is not up for debate is what winning the Met Mile means to Mott. This stallion-making race, one of the most prestigious among all run in North America, was one of the very few blanks on the Hall of Famer’s incredibly impressive resume. Before Saturday he had saddled 13 horses in the Met Mile for a record of 0-0-3.
“We’ve been able to score in a lot of the bigger races, and the Met Mile was certainly one I’ve been really wanting to win for a long time,” Mott said.
“Because I’ve spoken about it so often, I’ve said it over and over this is a race I wanted to win. I guess when the words come out of your mouth it’s public knowledge you want to win it. Well, we got it done yesterday. It’s a big deal for sure.
“For me, and to take nothing away from the Belmont Stakes because we did that already [Drosselmeyer, 2010], the Met Mile was something that had eluded me for years, and I’ve run some really nice horses in the Met Mile, and I’d never been able to connect as a trainer so I was thrilled,” he continued.
“This is something I’d wanted to do and I’m glad it was Cody’s Wish who carried us to the winner’s circle. He’s a very nice horse. He’s a very good horse. He is a horse with the highest level of quality. He ranks right up there with some good ones.”
As for enjoying that embarrassment of riches in his barn, Mott laughingly said, “Yeah, because they’ll all be retired soon enough. I’ll be down to Mr. T [the stable pony] over there and looking for a race to win.”
Cody’s Wish, Elite Power, and Poppy Flower, who gave Mott his first win in the 10th running of the Grade 3 Intercontinental on Friday’s card, left Belmont Park early Sunday morning and were vanning to Mott’s division in Saratoga.
“They all came back fine from their races. Everybody is doing good,” he said.
