Cody's Wish

Veteran jockey Junior Alvarado has been named the winner of the 2023 Mike Venezia Memorial Award. Alvarado, based this summer at Saratoga Race Course and the regular rider of GI Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile winner Cody's Wish, was chosen by a committee comprised of members of the Venezia family, representatives of the Jockeys' Guild and retired Eclipse Award-winning jockey Richard Migliore. Alvarado will be recognized in a winner's circle ceremony at Saratoga Saturday. "The Venezia Memorial Award is about representing the sport we love so much in the best way...

As Tuesday's entry time looms, the GI Travers S. is shaping up as a rare showdown of the three winners of this season's Triple Crown races. That's happened only five times since 1978, and on no occasion during the last 45 years when the winners of those spring Classics all graced the starting gate for Saratoga's "Midsummer Derby" has any one of them emerged victorious. That's a fairly daunting stat considering how the match-up of the GI Kentucky Derby, GI Preakness S. and GI Belmont S. winners is essentially what...

LNJ Foxwoods' Scotland (Good Magic), last-out winner of the July 21 Curlin S., tuned up for Saturday's GI Travers S. with a four-furlong move in :47.60 (1/68) over the Oklahoma training track Sunday in Saratoga. "It was a good, useful work," said trainer Bill Mott. "He galloped out well and seemed to have good energy and to be moving well. It was fast enough. I think we're fit enough." A debut winner at Gulfstream in March, Scotland was nosed out of an allowance victory at Keeneland in April before taking...

7th-DMR, $82K, Msw, 2yo, f, 6 1/2f, 8:15 p.m. A filly whose pedigree needs no introduction, TAMARA (Bolt d'Oro) is the latest foal out of MGISW Beholder to make the races for Spendthrift Farm and trainer Richard Mandella. Beholder, now a graded-stakes producer with Teena Ella (War Front), saw her youngest foal by Curlin bring a sale-topping $4,000,000 at last week's Fasig-Tipton Saratoga Select Yearling Sale. Out of blue hen Leslie's Lady, she is of course a half-sister to GISW Mendelssohn and leading general sire Into Mischief. Drawn on the...

Godolphin's Cody's Wish (Curlin), third in the nine-furlong GI Whitney Aug. 5 at Saratoga, is expected to return to one-turn racing this fall at the Belmont at the Big A meet, according to Michael Banahan, Director of Bloodstock for Godolphin. A potential landing spot for the 5-year-old could be the seven-furlong GII Vosburgh S. for 3-year-olds Sept. 30, a "Win and You're In" for the GI Breeders' Cup Sprint in November at Santa Anita. Banahan indicated that the Vosburgh could also be used as a steppingstone to the GI Dirt...

Growing up in Queens, Bobby Montano eventually became an actor and a dancer, a career he was happy to follow. But before that, his path took him in an entirely different direction. Montano, who was so small as a child that he was bullied, discovered horse racing and decided he wanted to be a jockey. On March 2, 1977, his dream came true as he rode in his first race at Aqueduct. He only rode in seven races and did not have a winner, but he left the sport with...

Vindictive (Uncle Mo--Exotic Bloom, by Montbrook), a close second in last spring's GIII Pimlico Special S., has been retired and will stand his first season at stud in 2024 at the Spinella Family's Pegasus Stud in New Jersey. The $200,000 KEESEP yearling purchase and half-brother to GI Breeders' Cup Distaff heroine Stopchargingmaria (Tale of the Cat) was campaigned by Grandview Equine, Cheyenne Stable, LLC and LNJ Foxwoods and trained by Todd Pletcher. He retires with a record of 8-4-1-1 and earnings of $300,960. "Vindictive is an impressive physical specimen who...

Welcome back, Babe. Trainer Rick Dutrow, Jr., on the sidelines for more than 10 years after having his license suspended by New York State racing regulators, enjoyed by far his biggest win since returning in the spring courtesy of White Abarrio (Race Day), a jaw-dropping 6 1/4-length, stalk-and-pounce winner of Saturday's 'Win and You're In' GI Whitney S. at Saratoga. Zandon (Upstart) completed the exacta while the heavily favored Cody's Wish (Curlin), looking for his first career win beyond one mile while drawn widest of all in post six, had...

Cody's Wish (Curlin) will be heavily favored over five rivals to add another chapter to racing's feel-good story in Saturday's GI Whitney S. at Saratoga. The Godolphin homebred, winner of last term's GI Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile and the stallion-making GI Hill 'N' Dale Metropolitan H. at Belmont Park June 10, seeks his first career win beyond one mile in the nine-furlong Whitney, a 'Win and You're In' for the GI Breeders' Cup Classic at Santa Anita. The 1-2 morning-line favorite, named after Cody Dorman, who was born with the...

Reigning GI Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile winner and MGISW Cody's Wish (Curlin) was installed as the 1-2 morning-line favorite and will exit from gate six after Wednesday's GI Whitney S. draw. The 96th running of the $1 million race is set for this Saturday, Aug. 5 and it offers a 'Win and You're In' berth to the GI Breeders' Cup Classic in November. Cody's Wish Hall of Fame trainer, Bill Mott said after the draw, "Every time you bring a horse over like this, you stand the risk of getting...

Godolphin's Cody's Wish (Curlin) had his final work ahead of the Aug. 5 GI Whitney S. Sunday at Saratoga, going four furlongs in :48.28 (9/69) over the Oklahoma training track. With Neil Poznansky aboard, the multiple Grade I winner clocked the first quarter-mile in :24 2/5 and galloped out five furlongs in 1:01 4/5 and seven furlongs in 1:27. "I thought it was perfect. If there is such a thing as a perfect work," trainer Bill Mott said. "Neil did a perfect job. The warm-up was good, the breeze went...

The tale of Cody's Wish (Curlin) and his association with Cody Dorman continues to be a powerful, feel-good story for the sport of racing. Cody's Wish was named for Dorman, a young man who suffers from Wolf-Hirschorn Syndrome, and the horse's six-race winning streak has brought joy to Dorman and his family. Wade Jost knows just how the Dormans feel. The first race at Saratoga Saturday was won by Carson's Run (Cupid), who is owned by West Point Thoroughbreds and Steven Bouchey. The 2-year-old colt was named after Carson Jost,...