A quartet of homebred victors at the Breeders' Cup World Championships vaulted Godolphin to the top of the North American owner and breeder standings in 2022, while the story of one of those winners, Cody's Wish , warmed the hearts of fans worldwide.
Fresh on the heels of a remarkable 2021 season that saw its runners bring home $17.4 million in earnings with three Breeders' Cup scores, Sheikh Mohammed's global operation brought its best to the Nov. 4-5 event and secured a place in the record books as the first owner/trainer to win four of the 14 races.
Godolphin as owner closed out the year with $16,343,067 in North American earnings, smoking nearest rival Klaravich Stables ($9,438,582) by $6.9 million. As breeder, their earnings as an individual entity totaled $18,433,995 from 187 starters, edging out Calumet Farm that ranked second with $17,704,946 from 545 starters. Godolphin was more dominate by number of black-type winners with 20 as breeder. Stonestreet Thoroughbred Holdings was second by stakes winners with 17. The powerful season practically guarantees Godolphin a second straight sweep of the Eclipse Awards for outstanding owner and breeder, which the operation claimed for 2021.
"It's wonderful to be in the position to combine both honors; that's probably the most meaningful thing for us," said Michael Banahan, director of bloodstock for Godolphin USA. "Everything we ran last year were all homebreds, so to be leading owner with all homebreds is quite an achievement.
"We keep the owner/breeder ideal alive, do the matings, raise the foals at our own farms, and to see them be productive on the racetrack and have them come back to the farms to stand at stud or join our broodmare band, all the people that work for us get a massive thrill out of that cycle."
Mischief Magic kicked off the action on Future Stars Friday with a sparking turn of foot that carried him from 12th to first under William Buick in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint (G1T). The Charlie Appleby trainee, a son of Exceed and Excel, secured his first top-level score in his North American debut. There was also an admirable display from Silver Knott, denied by a nose in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf (G1T).
Saturday the big guns came out, as Cody's Wish annexed the Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile (G1), Modern Games landed the Breeders' Cup Mile (G1T), and Rebel's Romance secured the Breeders' Cup Turf (G1T).
"We had a strong team assembled going in," Banahan recalled. "We were optimistic we would have a great weekend, and starting it out with the 2-year-old winning took the pressure off. If you get one winner at the Breeders' Cup, it's tremendous.
"We knew we were even stronger on the second day and went into Saturday morning knowing we had some excellent chances. It was a great feeling going in, and to actually see all those wins was so rewarding across the globe. When we were in California at the Breeders' Cup (in 2021), winning the three races there, you thought it could never get any better than this. To come back and improve upon it was magic. It's a Breeders' Cup we'll always remember."
While Modern Games and Rebel's Romance fired as part of the powerful Appleby string, Cody's Wish represented Godolphin runners based in the United States as he came in from the barn of Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott.
In the feel-good story of the Breeders' Cup, the 4-year-old Curlin colt—named after Cody Dorman, a teenager who has a rare genetic disorder known as Wolf-Hirschhorn Syndrome—won before his namesake when he grittily outfinished Cyberknife by a head.
Dorman, who sat trackside in his wheelchair alongside his family, was embraced after the race by his father, Kelly, who spoke in his son's ear. Cody's mother Leslie and sister Kylie quickly joined the celebration of the moment, with barely a dry eye to be found.
"This is top of the world, and anything past that," Kelly said at the time.
Cody first met the bay colt in 2018 when he was just a foal at Godolphin's Gainsborough Farm, via Keeneland's Make-a-Wish program, and a bond was established between the Godolphin team and the Dorman family.
"We went through the whole range of emotions with the whole story from the beginning, and it took on a life of its own," Banahan said. "We were just so grateful that the family and Cody could enjoy seeing the horse break his maiden at Churchill last year, and that was like Derby day to that family and to us for that to happen for them. At the time, I thought, 'This is fantastic, even if the horse never wins another race, it's unbelievable.'"
Banahan went on to recall the twists and turns of the journey with Cody's Wish, which included him missing the Metropolitan Handicap (G1) due to a fever and Mott calling an audible to send him to the Forego Stakes (G1) at Saratoga Race Course instead of the Pat O'Brien Stakes (G2) in California.
"The family couldn't come to Saratoga but Cody had done up this little poster wishing Cody's Wish luck on the day, and his dad said that the horse needed to see the poster to win the race," he said. "So you've got a Hall of Fame trainer after saddling the horse, making sure he saw this picture—everyone can get superstitious and we're not going to take any chances. For the horse to win was phenomenal. I think their house was reverberating with the cheering. Obviously winning that race made the opportunity to come to the Breeders' Cup in Lexington and for the Dorman family to be able to be there, it's just an absolutely magical story.
"The win resonated with not only the general public, but the hardened professionals as well; I think everyone got caught up in the emotion of it," Banahan continued. "Being at the races that day, when I saw the replay and saw how it affected professional sportscasters caught up in the moment where they couldn't speak on national TV, I hadn't seen that before. It was so genuine, it wasn't some contrived marketing or branding thing. It was just a genuine appreciation of the joy it could give this family and not only that family but lots of families that go through challenging times, to know there's good days out there as well. The joy that story brought was not just the circle close to the horse, but a wider circle all around. A lot of people took a lot away from that victory."
Godolphin ended the year as owner with 23 graded wins in North America, 10 of them at the highest level. In addition to their Breeders' Cup quartet, the other grade 1 successes came with Nations Pride in the Saratoga Derby (G1T), Santin in the Arlington Million Stakes (G1T), Matareya in the Acorn Stakes (G1), Proxy in the Clark Stakes (G1), Speaker's Corner in the Carter Handicap (G1), and With The Moonlight in the Saratoga Oaks Invitational (G1T).
"It's a culmination of years of selecting the correct horses to breed, and then it all coming together," Banahan said. "We're probably in a bit of a golden era, this rich vein of form coming together for us in the moment. We understand it's cyclical and we know it's not going to continue forever, but we put 100% effort into trying to do that."
End Zone Athletics, Calumet Lead by Wins
Karl Broberg's End Zone Athletics ended the year as the leading owner by wins in 2022, with 254 from 1,222 starts for a 21% win rate. Calumet was the leading individual breeder by wins, with 499 from 3,617 starts.
