Banahan has plans for Cody’s Wish, other Godolphin standouts

Michael Banahan weathered the storm in New York last weekend to watch Cody’s Wish get back to his winning form Sunday in the Grade 2 Vosburgh Stakes during the Belmont at Aqueduct meet.

It was the latest stop on what has turned into a star-studded year in his role as bloodstock director of Godolphin USA.

As he drove across Kentucky to catch his flight to New York last week, Banahan discussed the stable’s standouts, their Breeders’ Cup plans and even the possibilities for their racing in 2024.

His conversation for last week’s episode of Horse Racing Nation’s Ron Flatter Racing Pod also included status reports on Caramel Swirl, who would be promoted to victory after two disqualifications ahead of her in the Gallant Bloom (G2) at Aqueduct, as well as four-time Grade 1 winner Proxy, Alabama (G1) runner-up Wet Paint, Ballerina (G1) third-place finisher Matareya and rested Lexington (G3) victor First Mission.

The conversation began with the popular, four-time Grade 1 winner Cody’s Wish. The homebred, 5-year-old Curlin horse will be out to defend his victory Nov. 4 in the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile at Santa Anita, even though the Vosburgh victory qualified him for the Breeders’ Cup Sprint.

At once we say, OK, one turn is what he likes, but the Dirt Mile (at Santa Anita) will be two turns. Then again, it was two turns at Keeneland last year when he won it. Is the Dirt Mile still on the cards?

“He did two turns at Keeneland last year. That worked out fine. I think he is better maybe at one turn. We always in the back of our mind thought that Santa Anita was going to be a two-turn race. The one mile is fine for him. We don’t have any consideration to doing anything else. We’re only going for the (Dirt) Mile, and that’s where we plan to see him.”

Is it a question of distance as opposed to turns?

“It could be. He’s always shown a lot of speed, but you’re looking at his races, you would think that all that extra distance would be very much in his wheelhouse with his pedigree. He’s a Curlin out of a Tapit mare, but any time he has gone a longer distance, he’s been beat. That’s all I can glean from that. Any time he’s run seven-eighths or a mile, he’s won, so it’s hard to say. It would be nice if maybe we had looked at that when he was a younger horse to see maybe if he could get a longer distance, but he was doing so well what he was doing, so there was no reason to change. We put that to bed. Obviously, we would probably look at something a little bit different if he had won the Whitney (G1) and won it well, but that didn’t happen. I think it’s important when a horse tells you what they’re going to do and to run them in the race that suits them.”

Dare I ask you at this point whether you would race him at 6?

“I doubt that will happen. We made that decision last year to give him an extra year of racing. We thought there was an awful lot of green grass out there for him. Our major goal was to try to win the Met Mile (G1). We were fortunate enough to do that. Everything else is gravy on top of that. We’ve had a good season with him so far. Hopefully we can end up the season strong, ... but I think we’ll bring him back to the stallion barn at the end of this season.”

You have another one in the Bill Mott barn, and that’s Caramel Swirl. Coming off the third in the Bed o’ Roses (G2) and the fourth in the Ballerina (G1), how did you come to this spot in the Gallant Bloom?

“We looked at several different places for her, including the Princess Rooney (G3) down in Florida. We just felt that staying up in New York at 6 1/2 (furlongs), she’s done that before. It was a good spot to have her in. ... She’s a good filly in her own right. Three fillies (Echo Zulu, Goodnight Olive and stablemate Matareya) all ran well to beat her at Saratoga in the Ballerina. They ran exceptional races. She ran well, too. She ran second in the race last year. ... She’s never let us down in any of those races. She’s a real six-and-a-half-, seven-furlong specialist, and when those races come around, we have to take our chances in them.”

Do you look at her maybe for the Filly & Mare Sprint at the Breeders’ Cup?

“We’ll keep her in the mix. ... We’ll certainly have a look at it.”

Pretty Mischievous is coming off the second-place finish in the slop at the Cotillion (G1), losing to Ceiling Crusher and ending her three-race winning streak. How do you look at that race, and what do you look at in terms of Breeders’ Cup for her?

“She ran a big race. That track she didn’t enjoy at all. Her class came through I think with how well she ran. When she went around the first turn, I was thinking, ‘We’re not going to be in the race at all today.’ She got a little bit of traction on the track on the back side. She played that role that she always does. Very proud of her to try her hardest on a surface that wasn’t something that she liked to only come up a half-length short of catching (Ceiling Crusher, who) had a nice, easy lead. Nobody put any pressure on her. We’ve seen that time and again that it suits on a stalking track like that that, if you have an easy lead and you’re a good horse coming down to the wire, you’re usually going to win those. We were very proud of her. We’ve just regrouped. She shipped back to us at Churchill Downs, which is our home base, and we’ll see how she is over the next week or two. I think we end up going to the Breeders’ Cup. We’ll look at the Distaff. We tried the Test (G1, winning when Maple Leaf Mel broke down), and she has plenty of speed but maybe not up to the quality of the sprinter specialists. She won at a mile-and-an-eighth before, and she’s very good at that. She’s had a pretty long season. She’s had 10 races in a 12-month period. She’s hit all the targets that we’ve asked her to hit. She’s doing really well, she seems like she’s thriving in all her races. She looked exceptionally well (in the Cotillion). Brendan (Walsh) and his team have her in very good form. If we had a different track, maybe she could have performed a little bit better, but she ran well.”

Proxy was second by a nose to Bright Future in the Jockey Club Gold Cup (G1). Does he train up to the Breeders’ Cup Classic?

“Yes. He’s doing well from his home base at Fair Hill. Obviously, it was a total finish to Jockey Club. He ran a great race. He just came out on the wrong side of it. We’ll train up to the Breeders’ Cup and see if we can get lucky in California.”

Let’s look at the Brad Cox barn to Wet Paint. She finished second to Randomized in the Alabama. Where do you look for her now going forward?

“She’s had a great season and done very well. She was the favorite in the (Kentucky) Oaks (G1) and ran a good race but maybe didn’t run her best. She bounced back in the Coaching Club (American) Oaks (G1) with a big win. ... Maybe at Saratoga that day in the Alabama, it just didn’t suit her running style as well, but she still ran well. We’re going to train her up to the Breeders’ Cup with Brad and heading to California with her. We usually get a nice bit of pace in all those Breeders’ Cup races, so I don’t think that'll be an issue, and we’ll hopefully take our chance out there with her.”

In the Distaff, right?

“In the Distaff, yes. Absolutely.”

Matareya finished third in the Ballerina. She’s had a couple third places in a row after winning the Derby City Distaff (G1).

“She’s come back to our base at Churchill Downs. She is in excellent form, and Brad is very happy with her. We will look at the (Breeders’ Cup) Filly & Mare Sprint with her and see if we can kind of turn the tables, which might be tough to do on the two fillies (Echo Zulu and Goodnight Olive) that beat her. She beat one of them (Goodnight Olive) at Churchill three starts back (in the Derby City Distaff). She deserves a chance to take them on again and see what she can do.”

Finally, I’ll ask you about First Mission, who we haven’t seen racing since he won the Lexington in April. I notice he’s been on the work tab every week for the past month. What’s in store for him?

“He’s doing well. Brad’s very happy with him. We might look at a race at Keeneland if all goes well in the middle of the meet there. If that doesn’t work out, maybe early (in the fall meet at) Churchill. Something like that. He won’t be too far away. Hopefully, he can get back to the races. We’re looking forward to getting him back there and hopefully be having a nice year next year with him. ... We’ll probably just take one step at a time with a non-winners of two (allowance) at Keeneland and then see where that takes us.”