1st foal is a colt for fan favorite, horse of the year Cody's Wish

The first foal by 2023 horse of the year and multiple Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile winner Cody’s Wish was born Tuesday at Ramiro Salazar’s Phoenix Farm and Racing in Georgetown, Ky.

Owned by Frederick & May Construction, the colt is out of the multiple Grade 2 winner Hotshot Anna who was purchased by her owner at Keeneland’s November sale in 2022 for $400,000.

Cody's Wish became a fan favorite because of his extraordinary connection with Cody Dorman, a Kentucky teenager who was born with the rare genetic disorder Wolf-Hirschhorn Syndrome. The two met through the Make-A-Wish Foundation in 2019. The yearling cautiously approached the boy’s wheelchair before burying his head in the boy’s lap, and it was the beginning of a bond between the two.

Cody Dorman and his family attended Cody's Wish's last race, a win in the Breeders' Cup Mile at Santa Anita in 2023. Cody Dorman died the next evening on his way home from the race. He was 17.

Cody's Wish won 11 of 16 career starts, including a second Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile win in 2022, one of seven graded-stakes victories. The Godolphin homebred was trained by Bill Mott and had career earnings of $3.1 million.