Around 9:30 a.m. on Aug. 4, 17-year-old Cody Dorman was reunited with his best friend.
That would be Cody's Wish , the 5-year-old horse who is considered by many to be the best Thoroughbred in training. Young Cody, who has had a special bond with the horse since Cody's Wish was a foal, traveled to Saratoga Springs, N.Y., with his family from Richmond, Ky., to renew acquaintances with the horse in what has become horse racing's feel-good story of 2023, maybe the best one in a decade.
Cody Dorman was born with a rare genetic disorder called Wolf-Hirschhorn syndrome. He is unable to walk or speak but communicates with a tablet. He met his pal in 2018 during Keeneland's Make-A-Wish Day at Godolphin's Gainsborough Farm.
The friendship has grown.
On Aug. 4, Cody Dorman, being pushed in his wheelchair by his dad, Kelly, and surrounded by his family, went up to the back window of Cody's Wish stall at trainer Bill Mott's barn on the Oklahoma Training Track. The horse, who is always looking out that window, gazed at Cody.
When Mott brought out Cody's Wish for his daily exercise with rider Eddie Davis on board, the horse stopped in front of Cody and bowed his head.
"It's phenomenal, a very special story," said Danny Mulvihill, the farm manager at Gainsborough who introduced the two five years ago. "That horse knows that when he is here, he is here to see him. I know how special it is because I have been very lucky to see it from the beginning. These little moments we just saw we hope to see in the paddock tomorrow."
Cody's Wish, the 1-2 morning-line favorite in the $1 million Whitney Stakes (G1) Aug. 5 at Saratoga Race Course, is going for his seventh straight win. Cody Dorman will be on hand to watch it. Mulvihill said young Cody is expected to watch the race from the winner's circle.
Cody's Wish will be challenged by five others, including Last Samurai , trained by Hall of Famer D. Wayne Lukas.
"It is a beautiful story," Lukas said about the relationship between horse and boy. "It's a Hollywood script in real life. I will try my best to beat (Cody's Wish), but if he turns for home in front, I'll be pulling for him. I will be a fan with the rest of you."
