America’s feelgood horse Cody’s Wish lit up Kentucky Derby day with an emotional success as he completed a G1 hat-trick in the Churchill Downs Stakes – but not before stopping to say hello to his number one fan. Interview with Kelly Dorman by Steve Dennis
USA: If Kelly Dorman had been in any way unaware of the full impact of the ongoing fairytale surrounding his son Cody and the Breeders’ Cup winner Cody’s Wish, an incident on Kentucky Derby day helped him join the dots.
The Dormans were in Louisville to see Cody’s Wish – trained by Bill Mott and ridden by Junior Alvarado – extend his winning streak to five in the G1 Churchill Downs Stakes, but there was time before the big race to sit back and soak up all the atmosphere. Dorman, who always tells a good story, tells this one with wonder in his voice.
Breeders’ Cup miracle: the tearjerking story of the racehorse and the boy who wished upon a star
“It was our first Derby, me and my wife Leslie, Cody and his sister Kylie,” he says. “We were seated in the new section at Churchill Downs, ended up next to some guys from Australia, all talking about the racing.
“Then one guy’s mouth dropped open, and he just sat and stared at us. I’ll never forget that look on his face. He said: ‘I don’t know you, but I do know you.’
“Even on the other side of the world they’d heard about Cody’s story,” he goes on. “It’s somehow gone outside the world of racing, and it makes me so happy that so many people have been inspired by it. It makes Cody happy too – he’s a big-hearted kid and it really puts a smile on his face.”
People who don’t know the Dormans feel as though they do know them, all because of a boy and his horse. Everyone knows the story by now, but just in case …
At birth, Cody Dorman was diagnosed with Wolf-Hirschhorn syndrome, a rare genetic condition that affects many parts of the body. 
Cody can’t speak, he is confined to a wheelchair, he suffers frequent seizures, among other major lifelong difficulties. The doctors told the Dormans that their son, with luck, might live for two years. He is 17.
In 2018, Cody and his family – from Richmond, Kentucky – visited Godolphin’s Gainsborough Farm as part of Keeneland’s association with the Make-A-Wish Foundation, and a six-month-old foal walked up to Cody’s wheelchair and laid his head in Cody’s lap.
That foal was later named after the boy, in recognition of that day, and in that moment the two forged some unspoken, uncanny bond that goes beyond explanation and into the world of magic.
‘Cody’s Wish looks for Cody before the race’
“Every time I see them together it’s like I’m seeing it for the first time,” says Dorman. “The feeling I get is no different.
“Cody’s Wish looks for Cody before the race – it seems important to him that they see each other – and Churchill Downs, who were incredible to us, put Cody in the winner’s circle so they could see each other again after the race. The horse sort of bowed his head to Cody, it’s unbelievable, they just keep writing the story together.
“Kylie was crying, a lot of people were crying, I think nearly 150,000 people must have been cheering for Cody’s Wish. It certainly sounded like [caller] Larry Collmus was cheering for him.
“You don’t get much emotion from Cody, no instant reaction. But in the car going home, back in his own environment, he was bouncing off the walls. I think he’s still got a big smile on his face.”
It was the first time that Cody and Cody’s Wish had met since the Breeders’ Cup, where he won the Dirt Mile, although the five-year-old’s owner Godolphin has been sending the family photos and videos of the multiple G1 winner’s workouts this spring.
“The horse looks different this year,” adds Dorman. “His stride is so fluid – he must have put o
n 50lb of muscle, he’s stronger, more powerful. But he’s just like a little teddy bear when he’s with Cody.”
Cody himself has grown up a little this spring, and took his rightful place in the typical rite of passage for any American boy or girl – the junior prom.
‘He rolled in style’
“He was happy all day,” says Dorman. “One of his therapists was his date for the evening, he put on a blue tuxedo, and went to the prom in a black '55' Chevy Bel Air we hired – it was immaculate, he rolled in style.
“I took a photo of him sitting on the back seat between his date and his teacher, looking like a king. That was a good day.”
There will be more good days ahead, borne on the back of Cody’s Wish, whose next start is expected to be the million-dollar G1 Metropolitan – the fabled Met Mile – at Belmont Park on June 10.
That will mark a departure for the Dormans, who have watched him live only in their home state but are now looking into the possibilities of hitting the road in support of ‘their’ horse, even if they don’t make the trip in a Chevy Bel Air.
‘The goal is to get back to the Breeders’ Cup’
“This is his last year on the track so we’d like to be there for every race,” says Dorman. “And of course the goal is to get him back to the Breeders’ Cup at Santa Anita, and if he gets to California, we’ll be there too.”
It could be a very big year for the boy and his horse, whose supernatural connection has changed Cody Dorman’s life. It might have been an insular, sheltered existence, a life half-lived in quiet rooms, but through Cody’s strength and the fortitude of his family, allied to the brilliance of their four-legged friend, it has instead become an inspiration, a joyous public acknowledgement of the possibilities of life even when those possibilities are not immediately evident.
“At Churchill Downs there were people greeting Cody,” says Dorman, “how’s it going Cody, good to see you Cody, having their photo taken with him. It doesn’t bother us at all – it’s just special to see how the story has spread, and how people know him and want to know him.
“He’s had mountains to climb all his life, and we all get so much pleasure from seeing how much this means to him, wrapped in a warm blanket of affection at the racetrack,” he goes on. “Hopefully it’s helping to inspire a lot of children who might be in the same position.
“Look, I can’t come close to doing it justice, what it all means to all of us as a family. It’s like there’s a big hand on our back, supporting us, it won’t let us fall. That’s what it feels like to us.”
The fairytale has a few more chapters yet to be written. From Louisville to London, from Arcadia to Australia, there’s an audience out there waiting eagerly for the next instalment.
• Visit the Breeders’ Cup website and the Godolphin website
Fan favorite Cody’s Wish rides the feelgood factor back into world top ten
Stakes winner Montauk Traffic enjoys second career as therapy horse
View the latest TRC Global Rankings for horses / jockeys / trainers / sires