Cody’s Wish Sharp in Final Work for Whitney

Cody’s Wish, with Mott’s assistant Neil Poznansky on board, stepped onto the Oklahoma Training Track just after 9:30 a.m. ET on July 30 and worked four furlongs in a snappy :48.28 seconds. 

The son of Curlin  , who has won six straight races—the last four being grade 1s—dating back to March of 2022, figures to be the heavy favorite when entries are drawn for the prestigious Whitney Aug. 2.

“I thought it was perfect if there is such a thing as a perfect work,” Mott said of Cody’s Wish’s work, which was done under sunny skies at the Spa. “Neil did a great job. The warmup was good, the breeze went well, he went easily enough.”

Mott said Poznansky let Cody’s Wish off the bridle at the eighth pole and allowed the 5-year-old to finish well.

“We didn’t let him gallop out too much today, obviously, because we are right on top of the race,” Mott said. “He is not an easy horse to work because he could go too fast. You have to have someone on him who knows what they’re doing. Fortunately, we have someone as talented as experienced as Neil.”

Poznansky is a former jockey who won the 1996 Eclipse Award as the nation’s best apprentice jockey and also won the Sovereign Award for outstanding apprentice rider in Canada the same year. He has been working with Mott for 15 years.

“Even he says the horse is a little bit difficult to judge in his works—how fast he is going—because he is doing it so easily,” Mott said. “You don’t realize you are going as fast as you are sometimes. He is not the only horse that has ever been that way. Usually, you will find the occasional good horse that it’s hard to read how fast they are going.” 

The work July 30 was Cody’s Wish’s eighth at Saratoga—all on the Oklahoma—since arriving in town in mid-May. Mott’s home base is Saratoga from the time the Oklahoma opens in April until it closes in late October.