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00:00Welcome in now the green group guest of the week and it's a special one this week and
00:16I think it'll tug at your heartstrings.
00:18It's Wayne Yost and he is a co-owner of the horse Carson's Run who won the summer stakes,
00:23grade one summer stakes last Saturday at Woodbine.
00:26So let me briefly first tell the story and then we can have Wade talk more about it.
00:31As you see in his back in the background over his left shoulder is his son Carson.
00:36Carson has Wolf Hirschhorn syndrome, I hope I'm pronouncing that correctly, and the reason
00:41why people in racing might be familiar with that is because that is also the syndrome
00:45or affliction that Cody Dorman has, that Cody Dorman of course is the young man the horse
00:50Cody's wish is named after.
00:53Wade went to the United States Military Academy with Terry Finley, the head of West Point
00:57Thoroughbreds.
00:58They stayed friends over the years.
01:00They talked a lot about Carson and his condition and Terry said I'm going to name a horse after
01:04Carson someday.
01:05It all came together this year.
01:07They named Carson's Run after Carson and lo and behold, they didn't name just any horse
01:13Carson's Run.
01:14They named a real good horse, a grade one winner who'll be headed now to the Breeders'
01:17Cup Juvenile and we'll welcome in now Wayne Yost.
01:21And Wade, generally, you know, what has this been like for your family?
01:24I can't imagine how good it must feel to have some good news and a positive story come out
01:30of all this.
01:31It's been emotional as I already started my voice breaks right now.
01:36We just want to do something for Carson.
01:39He's never walked and this is an opportunity to give him some focus, give him some limelight.
01:48We have four children and the other three were really good athletes or are really good
01:53athletes are all grown now, but he was always going and with us to their events to as they
02:00competed in the various sports and was always in the background.
02:05Yet, he's always been one of our focuses.
02:10And so we just, Terry and I have been talking for over a decade about this, the possibility
02:16of doing something in his honor.
02:18And the timing was just right with what was going on this year with a variety of things.
02:24Carson just turned 31.
02:28He wasn't supposed to be with us and supposed to have passed early in life, but mainly because
02:36I give all the love to his mother who has constantly taken care of him as I completed
02:43my military career, as I've gone into business.
02:46And we've just been very fortunate that he is who he is living in his own little world.
02:52As you can see right now, he just he's happy, relatively healthy and exceeded all our expectations.
03:00But we just it was one of those things where like, OK, let's give him some limelight.
03:04And it was more of just living vicariously through something, an animal that can actually
03:13run.
03:14He's been confined to a wheelchair since day one.
03:17And it's just a phenomenal thing that Terry and West Point Thoroughbreds has done for
03:25us.
03:26And the fact that Carson's run has had the successes he has had to date is just an added
03:35smile on our face.
03:37It just makes us happy that we can live vicariously through it this way.
03:43And Carson gets to experience something, at least visually, that he can't do physically.
03:51And so that's where we're at with it right now.
03:53Yeah, Wade, sort of like Cody's wish, it seems like there's something else at play here.
03:57You know, I mean, to have two situations like this and two really, really good horses is
04:03just flabbergasting.
04:04One of the real coincidences here that I was reading is that you and Terry had made the
04:11decision about Carson's run even before the Cody's wish story came to pass.
04:18Can you talk about that a little bit?
04:19And then what it was like knowing this was in the pipeline to then watch Cody Dorman
04:25and Cody's wish at the Breeders' Cup and some of those other races?
04:30Yes, it, like I said, Terry and I have been talking about this for some years, but we
04:35were both at West Point back in the end of February, beginning of March for a funeral
04:41of one of our classmates who passed.
04:43And that's when Terry said, you know what, we're not getting any younger.
04:45We need to make this happen.
04:47So I said, all right, we're all in.
04:48Let's do it.
04:49And lo and behold, a couple of weeks later, he called me up and said, I think I have the
04:54right horse.
04:56And I said, let's go for it.
04:58He made sure that we decided to call it Carson's run.
05:01So that was in late March.
05:04And Carson and I were home by ourselves the day of the Kentucky Derby.
05:09And at that point, I didn't know about Cody and Cody's wish.
05:15But as we were sitting there, just Carson and I in front of the TV watching, you know,
05:19one of the buildup to the final race, I think it was the ninth race of the Kentucky Derby.
05:24And they started doing the special about Cody.
05:27And as soon as they showed him, there's no doubt in my mind before anything was even
05:33said that he's got four P minus as well.
05:36And they went forward and talked about it.
05:39And it was emotional for me to watch that on top of everything else.
05:46And then, you know, then later that day, Terry and I talked and I was like, you know, I'm
05:53glad we're doing this.
05:54But I didn't want to take any of the special circumstance away from Cody and his family
05:58and and how well Cody's wish is done.
06:00And I just was I was unsure that we were doing the right thing at that point.
06:05And Terry said, No, you can't take anything away from Cody and you can't take anything
06:10away from Carson.
06:11So we're doing this.
06:14And then evidently, I didn't know that Kelly, Cody's father and Terry had crossed paths
06:23at some point.
06:24I don't know how good of friends they are.
06:26But they reached out to Terry and and said, we'd like to get together with with Carson
06:32and his family.
06:33So we've been talking via text.
06:35We've been congratulating each other.
06:37I look forward to them.
06:38I think the next race is on the 30th of this month.
06:41It sounds like we may both of both horses may be at the Breeders Cup.
06:47If so, we'd love to get together with them.
06:49We'll talk about it after we get through some more races here.
06:53It's good that it's out on the West Coast for us.
06:57Given that we live in Washington State, it may still be tough.
07:00Carson has a lot of issues, one of which is a very low immune system.
07:05So with everything going on right now, with all the viruses going on in the world, it
07:09may be tough to get them down there.
07:11But we'll see.
07:12But we're hopeful.
07:13And we'll continue to talk to Cody and his family.
07:15And that would be just that would be the epitome of all this is to see those two together
07:23and then watch the horses run in the same weekend.
07:27Wade, two beautiful stories.
07:31And the one thing we love about horse racing is the stories and the people that it encompasses.
07:36So I'm really looking forward to it.
07:39Hopefully I'll get to meet you at Breeders Cup along with the Dorman family.
07:43But I want to take you back.
07:45You're a guy who firmly wears his heart on his sleeve.
07:49How was that very first win for you watching a horse named for your son?
07:56You just wanted to honor him with a name to be a four legged athlete.
08:01How was that feeling for you watching him cross the finish line?
08:05Not once, but twice, but three times like that's got to be pretty amazing.
08:09Yeah, now you're going to see my heart on my sleeve again.
08:15Just seeing his name in print and seeing the horse trot out and the manner in which
08:22they did.
08:25I don't know what I was expecting as my wife and Carson were sitting here waiting for it
08:31to start and they got in the gate.
08:34And I'll say I was kind of numb at first, but you're like, okay, this is this has already
08:39exceeded all our expectations.
08:41And then the manner of which Carson has run the race and then to see it repeated for the
08:49other two, especially this last one where, you know, Carson's always in the back of the
08:55pack.
08:56Carson's always the one who's just there with everybody else.
09:01And to see him slingshot around the corner and come back and be in the winner's circle,
09:08be in second place, be just competing, continues to be overwhelming for me personally.
09:15But it's, it was kind of alluded to earlier, you know, I do believe animals understand
09:24in some way, shape or form.
09:27You've seen some of the pictures of Carson and his dogs.
09:29They're not, they're not, they weren't bred to be helping dogs.
09:33They're just family pets.
09:35All four labs we've had have been special to him.
09:41They know he's special.
09:43They take the time to like the one we have now, Barley, she won't really cuddle with
09:49anybody but Carson and she'll get right up on the couch and she'll cuddle with them.
09:54They know there's something special.
09:55And I think it's the same with horses.
09:58You can say like, in our case, Carson's run and Carson have not met.
10:02I know in Cody's case, you know, Cody and Cody's wish that was really instigated by
10:07Cody's wish.
10:09But I think there's still something there about, they know they have a special purpose
10:13in life and they're doing it for somebody.
10:16And so it doesn't surprise me when it's all said and done that both these horses are doing
10:20what they're doing on the track.
10:23I am very anxious to see, you know, wheel Carson up next to Carson's run and to see
10:30what the reaction of the horse is.
10:33My gut says it's going to be a very affectionate, different from all the other different people
10:38that he's ever been close to, to Carson.
10:41And I can't explain it.
10:43No proof of it.
10:44I've just seen what our animals have done to Carson and how they've reacted to him and
10:49how they've cared for him.
10:51And I think it's the same in horses as in many other animals.
10:54Yeah, I'm sure you're right about that, Wade.
10:56I think it's going to be wonderful when Carson meets his namesake.
11:02When I wrote the story originally about this with Thoroughbred Daily News, I asked, does
11:06Carson, is he at all aware of what's going on?
11:09Is he aware that there's this horse out there named after him?
11:12This is where his mother and I kind of differ.
11:17She's around him day in and day out.
11:18She has been since day one.
11:20And I saw early on where he doesn't like crowds, which makes another thing about going
11:27to the track race a little bit difficult, but we'll figure something out.
11:33Even when he was really young, six months old, a year old, we could be in a room of
11:38people.
11:39And as soon as he heard his mother's voice, he would focus on it.
11:44You know, does he understand certain things?
11:48Probably.
11:49He does have the mental capacity.
11:50I think he maxed out about a one year old.
11:53So he doesn't walk, he doesn't talk in his communication, he'll hug.
11:58He's got a high pain threshold, so we don't really know when he's hurting.
12:01But it was very interesting when the first time Kim, his mother, put him up in front
12:08of the TV to watch the very first race, he was just kind of sitting there, kind of looking
12:13at the TV.
12:14And then the combination of the announcers with the commotion of the horses moving.
12:20But it seemed like every time they said Carson's run, he seemed to focus more and get a little
12:24bit more animated.
12:26So I'm not going to discount what his mother says.
12:29Kim says that he understands who he is.
12:32He understands what his name is.
12:33He does understand, you know, or we think he understands who his family is, at least
12:40from a hugging standpoint.
12:42But any one of you, when you meet him, he'll give you a big old hug if you get too close
12:46to him.
12:47So mother's no best.
12:50I'm not going to discount his ability to at least understand some basics.
12:55But I do believe he knows who his family members are and his name when it's spoken.
13:05On the scale of importance way, this is pretty far down the picking order.
13:08But I'm just curious.
13:09Sonny, your friendship with Terry Finley, have you been an avid follower of horse racing
13:15or are you now just really getting an introduction into this particular world?
13:20I'm just now getting an introduction.
13:22I will say that I've followed Terry since the beginning of West Point Thoroughbreds
13:27when he first got involved and he left the military, mainly in the beginning because
13:35he made a point to make sure that we were OK.
13:40He would ask every time I saw him, you know, how's Carson?
13:44And a lot of our friends were very apprehensive in the beginning because he wasn't supposed
13:51to be with us.
13:52So every time, especially in military, you see everybody maybe once a year, Army, Navy
13:56game, football game or some event, some reunion, but you don't see him that much because you're
14:01all over the world.
14:02And so when I'd see him, there was just apprehension.
14:07You know, do I ask about Carson?
14:09What if he's still alive?
14:11Never with Terry.
14:13Terry was always that was the first thing he asked.
14:16He pulled me aside and we have this emotional aspect and that's priceless.
14:23So I started really following more closely.
14:25And there's another thing that our class does.
14:30Terry's part of the board, the Johnny Mac Foundation, helping families that have lost
14:37their loved ones in combat, make sure they get to school if they want to go to school
14:41college.
14:43And so Terry, several years ago, one of the Houston gala's, they did a Terry and West
14:52Point Thoroughbreds put up a fundraiser to have partial ownership and horse and they
14:56just people bid on it.
14:58And it really got a lot of good, not just publicity, but money for the cause.
15:05And so the next year, as our kids or other kids who got scholarships from college in
15:11one way or another, and the money we had saved up, Kim and I decided that we were going to
15:17give as much that money to the Johnny Mac as we could.
15:19It was supposed to be for college education and our kids earn their own way through college.
15:26So the money still should go that, and it's a great cause that our classmates have done.
15:33And so our first delving into horse racing was after the Dallas one five years ago, four
15:41years ago, before COVID, where we went ahead and used some of that college money to bid
15:48on one of those fundraiser items of being a partial owner and a horse.
15:53And so we were with Cali dude when you guys had that.
15:59Unfortunately for Cali dude, his racing career ended short, but it was still fun to exciting
16:08to be a part of and starting to understand that.
16:11And then as this opportunity came up, you know, again, the spring where we got serious
16:18about it, I was like, yeah, let's do it again.
16:20See what happens.
16:22For those that may not know the whole story, how did yourself and Terry meet?
16:28Did you meet at West Point?
16:29Did you meet in the Army?
16:30And do you have any really good Terry stories that you maybe should or shouldn't tell?
16:38Terry and I met early in our West Point career in July.
16:42We had to report in as new cadets July 1st, 1982, and we met during that first week.
16:49And we've been, he's a likable guy.
16:52It was hard not to like.
16:54So we were friends.
16:56And then we were in companies, our second, third, and fourth year at the Academy that were closely aligned.
17:05And without getting into too much detail, we spent a lot of time walking what we call area tours
17:12for doing things we shouldn't have done in the military.
17:16So if he wants to expand on that, I'll let him.
17:20I will say I spent a lot more time on the area than he did.
17:23But we had some good quality time together.
17:26Wade, it's touching to see how emotional you get about this subject.
17:29But don't let anybody fool anybody.
17:32You got to be a really tough guy.
17:33Not only did you go through West Point, but you fought for our country.
17:37And when West Point itself wrote a story about this, they mentioned the fact that there's been some link
17:44to people who fought in the Gulf War having children with some sort of disabilities.
17:50Are you of the belief that perhaps your time in the military and the Gulf War in particular could have somehow...
17:56The bottom line is we don't know.
17:59But yes, the possibility exists.
18:02I know it did.
18:03It definitely did for some that have been diagnosed.
18:06By and large, this chromosomal disorder is overwhelmingly one of the two parents,
18:13is carrying their chromosomes not the way God had intended,
18:17but it just hadn't affected them until they have offspring.
18:22That didn't happen with my wife and I.
18:25So we don't know.
18:25And we were...
18:27Carson was doing studies.
18:28We were doing studies for three years after he was born.
18:31And we got to a point where the studies got to be too frequent.
18:36The blood that they drew, the tests that they did.
18:39And we finally just decided that it was time to move on with life and not put him through any more of that rigor.
18:47Nothing was ever conclusive for us.
18:50But yes, there's a lot of things.
18:52And before I say this, there's nothing I would change in my military career.
18:57I do it all over again, exactly the same way.
18:59You can't predict these things.
19:02Whether some people say God's will or it just happens.
19:06Our situation has proven over time, the fact that we still have him with us,
19:11and the fact that he's had definitely the positive influence over me,
19:15but also I know his mother and our three other kids wouldn't be who they are without that today.
19:21So ultimately, yes, there are things that we do in the military,
19:28and whether it is some of the preventive drugs that we take,
19:32or in our case, you know, my unit was in oil fields for an extended period of time,
19:37burning oil fields an extended period of time.
19:39But as we hear about burn pits today, and we're finding out more things,
19:43you know, Agent Orange with my dad in Vietnam before that,
19:47constantly the government and the military do the best they can at trying to protect the warfighters.
19:53And it's only after the fact that you find out things that may or may not have happened.
19:57And you deal with them.
20:00In our case, we've been so fortunate with where we are and being in the military
20:06and having the benefits we have through our medical system that the military has provided,
20:13that we're never going to have to worry about his care.
20:16There's a lot of people out there that do.
20:17And we know it's difficult for them to deal with us.
20:23We haven't had to worry about it.
20:25And as long as Carson's alive, he will be on my military benefits.
20:30And so we're being taken care of and life is good.
20:33Yeah, I just want to say thank you so much for your service.
20:38I'm really looking forward to meeting yourself, Wade, and hopefully Carson at Breeders' Cup.
20:44Yeah, we got to get him out to one of your races.
20:48Well, we certainly hope that you can make the Breeders' Cup.
20:50What a touching story.
20:51And it's so neat, not only that you have the horse named after your son, but as Vandy mentioned,
20:56I mean, what are the odds that this happens twice within a matter of a couple of years
21:00with Cody's wish story as well?
21:03Wade, thank you so much for your time.
21:05And I don't know who I'm going to be betting on in the Breeders' Cup juvenile turf,
21:08but I know who I'm going to be rooting for, Carson's run.
21:11How can you not?
21:12Wade, thanks so much for your time today and best of luck.
21:14Thank you all.
21:15With both the horse and Carson.