Cody’s Wish after notching back-to-back Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile victories (Ernie Belmonte/Past The Wire)
NTRA Press Release
PALM BEACH, Fla.— 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.
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.
It was an especially big evening for the trainer of Cody’s Wish, Hall of Famer Bill Mott, and his owner, Godolphin. Mott, based in New York, won his fourth Outstanding Trainer Eclipse Award. In addition to Cody’s Wish, Mott trained two other Eclipse Award winners in 2023, saddling Just F Y I, the Champion 2-year-old Filly, and Elite Power, who won Champion Male Sprinter. Cody’s Wish is the second Horse of the Year trained by Mott, who campaigned Cigar to win the gold trophy in 1995 and 1996. Mott also won the Outstanding Trainer Eclipse in those same years and captured the honor again in 2011.
Godolphin, the prominent racing and breeding operation from the United Arab Emirates, won the Outstanding Owner Eclipse Award for the fourth consecutive year and the Outstanding Breeder title for the third straight year. Godolphin led all North American owners earnings in 2023 with $17,270,233, and its runners combined for 12 Grade 1 victories. Godolphin also led all North American breeders in 2023 with progeny earnings of $20,907,146. In addition to Cody’s Wish, Godolphin’s Pretty Mischievous was voted Champion 3-Year-Old Filly.
The Mott-trained Just F Y I, owned by George Krikorian, won the Champion 2-Year-Old Filly title by capturing the Grade 1 Frizette at Aqueduct and the NetJets Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies (G1) at Santa Anita Park. Repole Stable’s Fierceness was voted Champion 2-year-old Male on the strength of his 6 ¼-length victory in the FanDuel Breeders’ Cup Juvenile (G1) for trainer Todd Pletcher.
Blue Rose Farm’s Arcangelo won the Champion 3-Year-Old Male Eclipse Award. Trained by Jena Antonucci, Arcangelo won both the Belmont Stakes (G1) and the Travers Stakes (G1) to seal the title. Antonucci became the first female trainer to saddle a Champion 3-Year-Old.
Champion 3-Year-Old Filly Pretty Mischievous, trained by Brendan Walsh, won three Grade 1 races last year, highlighted by her dramatic victory in the Longines Kentucky Oaks (G1) at Churchill Downs.
The Champion Older Dirt Female title went to Juddmonte’s Idiomatic. In a stellar season under trainer Brad Cox, Idiomatic won eight of nine races, including closing out the year with consecutive Grade 1 wins in the Personal Ensign at Saratoga, the Juddmonte Spinster at Keeneland, and the Longines Breeders’ Cup Distaff.
New York-based rider Irad Ortiz Jr. won the Outstanding Jockey Eclipse Award for the fifth time in the last six years. In 2023, Ortiz broke his single season record for total earnings with $39,192,585, and led all North American riders in wins with 366. Ortiz won three Breeders’ Cup races, highlighted by his victory aboard White Abarrio in the Longines Breeders’ Cup Classic (G1).
Two of Ortiz’s other Breeders’ Cup winners ― Elite Power and Goodnight Olive ― swept the Male Sprinter and Female Sprinter Eclipse Awards, respectively, for the second consecutive year. Juddmonte’s Elite Power, trained by Mott, won the Alfred G. Vanderbilt (G1) at Saratoga and the Qatar Racing Breeders’ Cup Sprint (G1). First Row Partners and Team Hanley’s Goodnight Olive, trained by Chad Brown, won the Madison (G1) at Keeneland in the spring and her second PNC Bank Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Sprint (G1) in November to secure the Champion Female Sprint title.
Repole Stable and St. Elias Stables LLC’s Up to the Mark was crowned Champion Male Turf Horse off consecutive Grade 1 wins in the Old Forester Bourbon Turf Classic Stakes at Churchill Downs, the Resorts World Casino Manhattan Stakes at Belmont Park and the Coolmore Turf Mile Stakes at Keeneland. Trained by Todd Pletcher, Up to the Mark was also a game second behind Auguste Rodin (IRE) in the Longines Breeders’ Cup Turf (G1).
Cheveley Park Stud’s Inspiral (GB) won two Group 1 races in Europe last year before coming to the U.S. and winning the Maker’s Mark Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Turf (G1). Trained by John Gosden, Inspiral was voted Champion Female Turf Horse.
Hurricana Farm’s Merry Maker (IRE) won Champion Steeplechase Horse. Trained by Archibald Kingsley, Jr. Merry Maker took the 2 ½-mile Lonesome Glory Handicap (G1) over national fences at Aqueduct and finished second in the Grand National Hurdle Stakes (G1) at Far Hills, N.J.
Completing the human awards, Axel Concepcion was voted Outstanding Apprentice Jockey. Riding primarily on the Middle Atlantic circuit, the native of Puerto Rico led all apprentice riders in total earnings with $5,179,154 and in wins with 199.
The complete list of 2023 Eclipse Award winners, and vote totals appear, below:
(Horse ages in parentheses where applicable; Country codes indicate a foreign breeding designation)
· Two-Year-Old Male: Fierceness
· Two-Year-Old Filly: Just F Y I
· Three-Year-Old Male: Arcangelo
· Three-Year-Old Filly: Pretty Mischievous
· Older Dirt Male: Cody’s Wish (5)
· Older Dirt Female: Idiomatic (4)
· Male Sprinter: Elite Power (5)
· Female Sprinter: Goodnight Olive (5)
· Male Turf Horse: Up to the Mark (4)
· Female Turf Horse: Inspiral (GB) (4)
· Steeplechase Horse: Merry Maker (IRE) (6)
· Owner: Godolphin LLC
· Breeder: Godolphin
· Jockey: Irad Ortiz Jr.
· Apprentice Jockey: Axel Concepcion
· Trainer: Bill Mott
· Horse of the Year: Cody’s Wish
