Connections of Cody's Wish to receive NTWAB award

The National Turf Writers and Broadcasters has selected the connections of multiple graded stakes winner Cody’s Wish to receive its Mr. Fitz Award for “typifying the spirit of racing,” the organization announced on Friday, along with three other award winners.

Cody’s Wish was named after Cody Dorman, a child with a rare genetic disease, called Wolf-Hirschhorn Syndrome, after the two bonded when the horse was just a weanling at Gainsborough Farm. Cody’s Wish has continued to demonstrate affection for Dorman as he matured and developed into one of the best sprinters in the U.S.

The Mr. Fitz Award will be presented to Dorman, the horse’s trainer, Bill Mott, and Godolphin, the owner and breeder of Cody’s Wish, at a dinner scheduled for Nov. 1 in Arcadia near Santa Anita, the host of this year’s Breeders’ Cup.

The NTWAB also will award the Gregson Foundation with its Joe Palmer Award for “meritorious service to racing.” A non-profit, the Gregson Foundation provides financial resources for children of backstretch workers to attend college. Over the past 20 years, the foundation has provided $1.3 million in scholarship grants.

In addition, Mike Kane, a longtime turf writer, will be honored with the NTWAB’s Walter Haight Award for “career excellence in turf writing.” Kane has covered racing in print, radio, television, and on-line since 1980. He is the former turf writer for the Schenectady Gazette and has contributed stories to Thoroughbred Daily News, Daily Racing Form, Thoroughbred Racing Commentary, the Louisville Courier-Journal, the New York Times, USA Today, the Albany Times Union, and the New York Daily News.

Kenny Rice, who has been a racing broadcaster for NBC’s coverage of the Triple Crown and the Breeders’ Cup since 1999, will receive the NTWAB’s Jim McKay Award for “career excellence in broadcasting.” Working in Lexington, Rice won a local television Eclipse Award in 1996, the same year that he became the youngest winner of the Kentucky Thoroughbred Association’s Charles W. Engelhard Award for “lifetime contributions to the Kentucky Thoroughbred industry.”

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