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Namesake of Cody’s Wish dies at 17, day after memorable Breeders’ Cup win
Arcadia Weekly Nov 08, 2023
Cody Dorman meets Cody's Wish prior to the Breeders' Cup event at Santa Anita Park. | Photo courtesy of the Breeders' Cup/X
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The 17-year-old boy for whom champion thoroughbred Cody’s Wish was named died one day after watching the horse win the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile at Santa Anita Park in Arcadia, his family announced Monday.
“We are heartbroken to share the news that our beloved Cody suffered a medical event on our trip home to Kentucky yesterday and he has passed away,” parents Kelly and Leslie Dorman said in a statement issued Monday morning via Godolphin, the stable that bred and owns Cody’s Wish.
“On Saturday, Cody watched his best friend, Cody’s Wish, display his usual perseverance and toughness in winning a second Breeders’ Cup. Those are the same characteristics Cody has showed time and again for the 18 years we were blessed to have him.”
Cody Dorman, then a 12-year-old born with Wolf-Hirschhorn syndrome, met the then-unamed 5-month-old foal in October 2018 who would be named Cody’s Wish as part of a Make-A-Wish event at Gainsborough Farm in Kentucky. The genetic condition can leave a person without the ability to walk or communicate and Cody wasn’t supposed to live past 2.
Cody’s Wish kept inching closer to Cody’s wheelchair “until his nose was right there,” Danny Mulvihill, farm manager at Gainsborough, told the Los Angeles Times.
“He was nuzzling Cody’s hand and then his head went into Cody’s lap,” Mulvihill said.
After Cody’s Wish finished a nose ahead of National Treasure, the 2023 Preakness Stakes champion, Saturday to win the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile for the second consecutive year, his father Kelly said, “I think that horse probably saved Cody’s life in a lot of ways. I know him and the horse has made a lot of lives better.”
Saturday’s race was the last of Cody’s Wish’s career. He will be retired to stud after winning 11 of 16 races, including five Grade 1 races, finishing second once and third four times.
“With Cody’s diagnosis at birth, we always knew this day would come but we were determined to help Cody live his best life for however long we had him,” his parents said in their statement.
“Anyone who has seen him at the racetrack, especially around Cody’s Wish, understands that in many ways, he taught us all how to live, always keeping a positive attitude and being more concerned about those around him than himself.”
In lieu of flowers, the family asks for donations be made to Make-A-Wish Ohio, Kentucky & Indiana. Donations can be made at oki.wish.org/codyswish.
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