Cody's Wish has a solid claim for Horse of Year
When the 53rd annual Eclipse Awards — the Oscars of horse racing — are announced today, either Cody's Wish, Idiomatic or White Abarrio will join other equine greats such as Secretariat, Spectacular Bid and Flightline as a Horse of the Year winner.
While all three of this year's candidates for the most prestigious of the Eclipse Awards can lay a legitimate claim to the honor, Santa Anita and Del Mar morning-line maker and racing historian Jon White doesn't think it's a close race.
“The way I see it, Cody's Wish is a heavy favorite,” White wrote in an email when asked his opinions about the Eclipse ceremony that will be held at The Breakers Palm Beach in Florida and is scheduled to begin at 4:30 p.m.
White points out that he believes Fierceness (juvenile males), Just F Y I (juvenile fillies), Arcangelo (3-year-old male), Pretty Mischievous (3-year-old female), Elite Power (male sprinter), Idiomatic (older dirt female) and Irad Ortiz, Jr. (top jockey) are slamdunk winners.
He explained his thinking on the three contenders for Horse of the Year:
“Cody's Wish won two big races, the Met Mile and Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile,” White wrote. “In the Dirt Mile, he showed tremendous heart, closing resolutely to get up in the last jump and nose out Preakness Stakes winner National Treasure.”
While Idiomatic won six stakes races in 2023, including the Breeders' Cup
Distaff, White sees a major flaw in her candidacy.
“All of those wins came in races restricted to fillies and mares,” he wrote. “Idiomatic would have had a stronger case for Horse of the Year if she had won a stakes race against males.” And White Abarrio? “Cody's Wish won four stakes races in 2023, twice as many as White Abarrio,” White wrote.
The two squared off against each other twice last year, with Cody's Wish winning the Met Mile while White Abarrio finished third and the latter finishing first in the Whitney Stakes at Saratoga as Cody's Wish came home third.
The race for top trainer is an intriguing one. All three finalists — Bill Mott, Chad Brown and Brad Cox — have won the award more than once, but Mott might have a leg up on the other two this time.
”Brad Cox certainly had a terrific year, but so did Bill Mott,” White wrote. “I believe Mott probably is going to get his fourth Eclipse Award as outstanding trainer, largely because it's likely that he will be the trainer of three 2023 champions in Cody's Wish, Just F Y I and Elite Power.”
White believes the most wide-open category is the female turf division. The three finalists are In Italian, Inspiral and Mawj.
“It's probably between In Italian and Inspiral,” he wrote. “My guess is the edge will go to In Italian, but I won't be surprised if it's Inspiral.”
The festivities will be televised by FanDuel TV and Racetrack Television Network and streamed on multiple outlets.
NFL playoffs
Favorite
Sunday
AFC Championship
at Baltimore
31/2 (441/2)
NFC Championship
at San Fran.
NBA
Favorite
Philadelphia Utah Minnesota Boston Denver Sacramento at LA Lakers
College Basketball
Favorite
Cent. Conn. St. 11/2 at Campbell 31/2 at App. St 161/2 at Lou. Tech 101/2 at Hofstra 131/2 at Delaware 151/2 Drexel 1 Wright St 11/2 Youngstown St 141/2 Oakland 21/2 Charleston (SC) 13 UNC Wilmington 21/2 at N Texas 11/2 at S Dakota St 111/2 at N Kentucky 5 at Quinnipiac 5 at Little Rock 121/2 Cal Baptist 4 Grand Canyon 21/2 at Abilene Chr. 51/2 at Tarleton St 61/2 at St. Thomas 7 at Oral Roberts 4 at W Kentucky 61/2 at Milwaukee 121/2 at UT Martin 111/2 at Louisiana 31/2 S Alabama 31/2 at E Illinois 4 at Denver 10 at Sam Houston 31/2 at E Washington 61/2 at Sacramento St 1 W Illinois 21/2 at Gonzaga 91/2 at Oregon 71/2 at Idaho 3 at Loyola Mrym 91/2 Montana 51/2 at UCSD 81/2 CSU Fullerton 51/2 at CS Northridge 4 UC Irvine 41/2 at Santa Clara 81/2 Arizona 161/2 at St. Mary's (CA) 271/2 at Hawaii 31/2
NHL
Favorite
Line (O/U)
7 (501/2)
Line (O/U)
Underdog
Kansas City
Detroit
Underdog
41/2 (2371/2) at Indiana 7 (2431/2) at Washington 41/2 (219) at Brooklyn 7 (2241/2) at Miami 2 (2241/2) at New York 2 (2401/2) at Golden St Off (Off) Chicago
Line
Line
Underdog
at Fairleigh Dickinson
Elon Georgia S
UTEP William & Mary
NC A&T at Towson at Cleveland St
at IUPUI at Green Bay at Hampton at N'eastern SMU UMKC Purdue (FW) Mount St. Mary's Lindenwood at UT Rio GV
at SFA Utah Tech
S Utah N Dakota St
Omaha Florida Int Detroit Mercy SE Missouri St
Arkansas St at UL Monroe Tennessee Tech
S Dakota New Mexico St N Colorado Montana St at S Indiana San Fran. Arizona St N Arizona Portland at Portland St UC Riverside
at Cal Poly CSU Bakersfield at Long Beach St Pepperdine at Oregon St Pacific
UCSB
Underdog PGA TOUR — FARMERS INSURANCE OPEN
At La Jolla
a-Torrey Pines - South (Host Course)
7,765 yards; Par 72
b-Torrey Pines - North
7,258 yards; Par 72 Purse:
First Round
$9 million
Kevin Yu ................................ 33b-31b—64 -8 Patrick Cantlay .................... 32b-33b—65 -7 Ryo Hisatsune ...................... 33b-32b—65 -7 Thomas Detry ..................... 34b-32b—66 -6 Shane Lowry ....................... 31b-35b—66 -6 Hideki Matsuyama ............. 33b-33b—66 -6 Aaron Rai ............................. 34b-32b—66 -6 Alejandro Tosti ................... 34b-32b—66 -6 Bronson Burgoon ............... 34b-33b—67 -5 Emiliano Grillo .................... 35b-32b—67 -5 Chesson Hadley .................. 33b-34b—67 -5 Nick Hardy ............................ 32a-35a—67 -5 Nicolai Hojgaard ................. 36a-31a—67 -5 Michael Kim ........................ 35b-32b—67 -5 Maverick McNealy ............. 33b-34b—67 -5 Collin Morikawa ................. 35b-32b—67 -5 Matthew NeSmith .............. 34b-33b—67 -5 Justin Suh ............................ 33b-34b—67 -5 Ludvig Aberg ...................... 32b-36b—68 -4 Jacob Bridgeman ................ 33a-35a—68 -4 Marcus Byrd ....................... 33b-35b—68 -4 Adrien Dumont De Chassart .... 33b-35b—68 -4 Austin Eckroat .................... 34a-34a—68 -4 Harris English ..................... 34b-34b—68 -4 Chris Gotterup .................... 34b-34b—68 -4 Lee Hodges ......................... 34b-34b—68 -4 Rico Hoey ............................. 35b-33b—68 -4 Beau Hossler ....................... 35b-33b—68 -4 Stephan Jaeger .................... 32a-36a—68 -4 Taylor Montgomery ........... 33b-35b—68 -4 Vincent Norrman ............... 34b-34b—68 -4 Chandler Phillips ................ 34b-34b—68 -4 Scott Stallings ..................... 32a-36a—68 -4 Aaron Baddeley ................... 33b-36b—69 -3 Zac Blair ................................ 35a-34a—69 -3 Michael Block ...................... 36b-33b—69 -3 Nicolas Echavarria .............. 32b-37b—69 -3 Tony Finau ............................ 34a-35a—69 -3 Doug Ghim ............................ 36b-33b—69 -3 Max Greyserman ............... 34b-35b—69 -3 Mark Hubbard .................... 35b-34b—69 -3 Seonghyeon Kim ................. 35a-34a—69 -3 Jake Knapp .......................... 35b-34b—69 -3 Matthieu Pavon .................. 34b-35b—69 -3 Justin Rose .......................... 34b-35b—69 -3 Xander Schauffele .............. 36a-33a—69 -3 Ben Silverman .................... 35b-34b—69 -3 Tyson Alexander ................. 34b-36b—70 -2 Paul Barjon ........................... 35b-35b—70 -2 Akshay Bhatia ...................... 35a-35a—70 -2 Joseph Bramlett .................. 35b-35b—70 -2 Rafael Campos .................... 38a-32a—70 -2 Trace Crowe ......................... 35a-35a—70 -2 Ryan Fox ............................... 37b-33b—70 -2 Wilson Furr ........................... 36b-34b—70 -2 Joe Highsmith ...................... 36a-34a—70 -2 Charley Hoffman .................. 33a-37a—70 -2 Max Homa ............................ 38a-32a—70 -2 Mackenzie Hughes ............. 36b-34b—70 -2 Luke List ............................... 34a-36a—70 -2 Troy Merritt .......................... 36b-34b—70 -2 Francesco Molinari ............. 35a-35a—70 -2 Taylor Moore ........................ 32a-38a—70 -2 Adam Schenk ........................ 33a-37a—70 -2 Robby Shelton ..................... 35a-35a—70 -2 Brandt Snedeker ................. 35a-35a—70 -2 Ben Taylor ............................. 34b-36b—70 -2 Sami Valimaki ...................... 38b-32b—70 -2 Tom Whitney ........................ 34a-36a—70 -2 Dylan Wu .............................. 35a-35a—70 -2 Carson Young ...................... 35b-35b—70 -2 Ryan Brehm .......................... 35a-36a—71 -1 Parker Coody ....................... 38b-33b—71 -1 Lanto Griffin ........................ 34a-37a—71 -1 Tom Hoge .............................. 34a-37a—71 -1 Ben Kohles ............................ 35b-36b—71 -1 Kyoung-Hoon Lee ................ 34b-37b—71 -1 Justin Lower ......................... 35b-36b—71 -1 Keith Mitchell ...................... 35b-36b—71 -1 Andrew Novak ..................... 36b-35b—71 -1 Victor Perez ......................... 36b-35b—71 -1 Chad Ramey ......................... 33a-38a—71 -1 Sam Ryder ............................ 35b-36b—71 -1 Taiga Semikawa .................. 33a-38a—71 -1 Roger Sloan .......................... 35a-36a—71 -1 J.J. Spaun .............................. 33b-38b—71 -1 SamStevens ........................ 36b-35b—71-1 Kevin Streelman .................. 34b-37b—71 -1 Gary Woodland .................... 34a-37a—71 -1 Erik Barnes ............................. 35a-37a—72 E Daniel Berger ........................ 35b-37b—72 E Christiaan Bezuidenhout .... 34a-38a—72 E Alexander Bjork .................... 36a-36a—72 E Alex Chiarella ........................ 35a-37a—72 E Pierceson Coody ................... 35a-37a—72 E Kevin Dougherty ................... 35a-37a—72 E Harrison Endycott ............... 35b-37b—72 E Patrick Fishburn .................... 37a-35a—72 E Will Gordon ............................ 37a-35a—72 E Ben Griffin ............................. 36a-36a—72 E Chad Hambright ................... 36b-36b—72 E Min Woo Lee ......................... 36a-36a—72 E Adam Long ............................. 35a-37a—72 E Ryan Moore ........................... 36b-36b—72 E Cameron Sisk ........................ 37b-35b—72 E Sahith Theegala ................... 34b-38b—72 E Norman Xiong ....................... 36a-36a—72 E Keegan Bradley .................. 36a-37a—73 +1 Hayden Buckley .................. 38a-35a—73 +1 Scott Gutschewski ............ 38b-35b—73 +1 Garrick Higgo ...................... 35a-38a—73 +1 J.B. Holmes .......................... 37b-36b—73 +1 Sungjae Im .......................... 36a-37a—73 +1 Nate Lashley ....................... 35a-38a—73 +1 Nicholas Lindheim ............. 38b-35b—73 +1 David Lipsky ........................ 36a-37a—73 +1 Peter Malnati ...................... 35a-38a—73 +1 Ben Martin .......................... 37a-36a—73 +1 Ryan McCormick ................ 34a-39a—73 +1 Chris Naegel ........................ 35b-38b—73 +1 Taylor Pendrith ................... 38a-35a—73 +1 Raul Pereda ......................... 37b-36b—73 +1 Davis Riley ........................... 36a-37a—73 +1 Patrick Rodgers .................. 36a-37a—73 +1 Greyson Sigg ....................... 34a-39a—73 +1 David Skinns ....................... 30a-43a—73 +1 Alex Smalley ....................... 37a-36a—73 +1 Hayden Springer ................ 37b-36b—73 +1 Jimmy Stanger .................... 37b-36b—73 +1 Sepp Straka ......................... 36b-37b—73 +1 Callum Tarren ..................... 36b-37b—73 +1 Josh Teater .......................... 37a-36a—73 +1 Davis Thompson ................. 37a-36a—73 +1 Matt Wallace ...................... 39a-34a—73 +1 Vince Whaley ...................... 36a-37a—73 +1 Carl Yuan ............................ 33b-40b—73 +1 Will Zalatoris ...................... 35a-38a—73 +1 Stewart Cink ....................... 38b-36b—74 +2 Eric Cole ............................... 38b-36b—74 +2 Jason Day ............................. 37a-37a—74 +2 Blaine Hale .......................... 37b-37b—74 +2 Billy Horschel ...................... 36b-38b—74 +2 Mac Meissner ..................... 35a-39a—74 +2 Seamus Power .................... 36a-38a—74 +2 Chez Reavie ......................... 39a-35a—74 +2 Cameron Champ ................ 38a-37a—75 +3 Tyler Duncan ....................... 39a-36a—75 +3 Harry Hall ............................ 39a-36a—75 +3 MattiSchmid ...................... 34a-41a—75+3 Adam Svensson .................. 36a-39a—75 +3 Nick Watney ........................ 36a-39a—75 +3 Joel Dahmen ........................ 39a-37a—76 +4 Chan Kim ............................. 39a-37a—76 +4 Martin Laird ........................ 38a-38a—76 +4 Robert Macintyre ............... 40a-38a—78 +6 Jhonattan Vegas ............... 38a-40a—78 +6