BH Interview: Eddie Woods

Eddie Woods came to America from his native Ireland in 1986. After a short stint working with broodmares at Cashel Stud in Ocala, Fla., Woods moved to nearby Another Episode Farm, where he soon discovered his calling—working with yearlings and 2-year-olds.

In 1993, Woods went out on his own as a trainer/pinhooker and by 2000 he had purchased his own farm in Ocala. Woods soon became one of the most respected horsemen in the business.

Best known for his pinhooking operation, Woods is just as accomplished as a trainer of young horses for clients who want to race instead of sell. Woods accepts "a couple hundred yearlings" each year, and there is a waiting list to get horses into his program. He estimates his business currently is split evenly between horses aimed for the 2-year-old sales and those pointed for the races.

He has provided early training for dozens of horses who went on to be graded stakes winners, including champions Authentic  , Big Brown  , Lady Eli , Left Bank, and Midnight Lute  .

BloodHorse caught up with Woods before this year's Fasig-Tipton Midlantic May 2-Year-Olds in Training Sale, which finishes its two-day run in Timonium, Md., May 21.

BloodHorse: What did you think of this year's Preakness Stakes?

Eddie Woods: I thought it was a good result for our industry—a renowned Hall of Fame trainer coming back and winning a classic at his age. Wayne (Lukas) had a few down years, but he's come back with a vengeance, as great people do.

BH: You're known as a pinhooker, but some of the best owners in the game trust you to develop their horses for a racing career. What does that mean to you?

EW: It's quite a compliment, and it's nice to have them.

BH: What do you remember about those five champions you trained? Did they share any traits? 

EW: The good horses all have one trait and that's quality; quality and class. They don't stress. They take everything in stride. They keep their weight. They're good-minded, most of them, and things come easy for them.

Big Brown was a big beautiful horse, quiet, laid-back, and a beautiful mover. Left Bank was a really hardy tough horse, and also beautiful looking. Lady Eli was a bit of a witch, but she was gorgeous. She had a pretty head on her and a beautiful eye, but she wasn't for messing with. Midnight Lute was spectacular looking—a big, long, black horse but very quiet and laid-back. He was special, a come-from-behind sprinter.

We broke and trained Authentic but he wasn't for the 2-year-old sales. He was a very immature horse early on. At first he was tall and a little bit narrow, but he thickened out as he got older. He was a beautiful-moving, sound horse.

BH: Your graduates of this sale include grade 1 winners Mandy's Gold  and Bayern . What do you recall about them? 

EW: Mandy's Gold was a good one, but Bayern has to be the best horse I've sold in Timonium by quite a ways. He was a really tough, hardy horse. He was very difficult to break. Bayern was a ridgling at the time. When we took the testicle out, it changed his attitude entirely, and he grew up and became a man.

He was only a medium-sized horse but he was really well-balanced and strong. He was a quick-looking horse—and he was quick—with a lovely head on him, a good solid all-around American horse.

BH: What is the primary trait of the American horse in your opinion?

EW: American horses have speed. They're quick. The foal crop gets smaller as we go along, but it's the bottom end that's fading away, not the top end.

We're seeing that come to a head from the Japanese point of view. They've sucked up a lot of top-end pedigree mares out of this country. And now they're coming over here for our big races. They got robbed out of a Kentucky Derby this year in my opinion. They'll be back for more.

Brian Hernandez won that Derby on Mystik Dan coming from the three-eighths pole with the spot he had him in. He was up and gone, and the rest just didn't get to him.

BH: How do you feel about the Japanese buying American horses?

EW: It's a six of one, a half dozen of the other. Do you like the money or not? They're spending a lot, so you take it, but the repercussions are they're gonna come back and kick our butts with what they bought.

When you see their summer catalog for their weanling and yearling sale, all of those pedigrees are so familiar, and it's down to the second dams now. They've had some great stallions...Sunday Silence and all the other ones they've had by Sunday Silence, such as Deep Impact.

BH: Do you think the increased number of Americans buying in Europe will help the breed?

EW: There's some fresh lines coming in, and it's mainly grass, but grass racing in this country has progressed significantly over the last few years. The Europeans are a bit of a different breed, maybe a bit of a sounder breed. 

BH: You've had a chance to see and work with the progeny of many of this year's freshman stallions in America. Who has impressed you?

EW: Authentic, not to be biased, but they'll be a bit like him. They'll not be for today or tomorrow. They'll take a bit more time, but they have quality.

Complexity's babies have been quite nice. They appear to be pretty quick and some are definitely 2-year-olds.

The Global Campaigns are very classy horses and stylish. We've had three or four and loved all of them.

BH: How do things look to you coming into this Timonium sale?

EW: This is the last sale of the year for me. We're done here after Timonium. Before you know it we'll be at a yearling sale again.

This has been a good sale over the years, always. The good thing about Timonium is you see people at this sale that you don't see at any other sale. For whatever reason, I don't know. A lot of these East Coast people tend to stay close to home. We don't see too many trainers anymore at the sales, other than a couple of the top-end guys who have bought 2-year-olds over the years in Ocala. A lot of the New York guys have gone away. They don't come down anymore, but you do see some of them at Timonium because of the New York-breds that sell here.

The market is tricky irrespective of what everyone tells you. The top end is good but not fantastic, and I think people are just a little cautious right now. Unfortunately, we have limited racing now compared to what we had 10 years ago. There's less demand. 

Some horses will bring a lot of money here like they always do, and we hope there's a few people here to help us clean up at the lower end.

BH: Do you have a standout in your consignment here?

EW: This year I only brought seven here. They're a good group across the board. There's no point in bringing anything weak to this sale. There's no one here for them. The ones that aren't nice horses, we'll just move them on to someone else without the expense of bringing them to a sale.

I like Hip 379, my Maclean's Music. Music Critic is his name. He's a really pretty horse, well made, a big strong colt with plenty of leg and a beautiful head on him. I expected him to work good, and he did.

BH: How do you think the pinhookers will emerge from this year's 2-year-old sales into the yearling market?

EW: I think from the pinhooking point of view it will probably be about the same. We have to buy ourselves a job every year, and that's just what we do.

I would hope yearling prices don't keep going up. But the problem is at the yearling sales, the quality is getting harder to find, so hence what is perceived to be the top end brings more and there's a trickle-down effect The only ones that sell well for us are the really nice horses, so that's what we have to buy. Unfortunately, it seems we have to spend a bit more each year to get them.

BH: What do you think of the new medication rules the sales companies have agreed on for the 2-year-old auctions?

EW: The new medication rules are a strengthening of the old rules and just making people know they are actually there. We have a lot of negative rubbish out there. As you know, bad news takes up pages and good news takes up paragraphs. But it's all for the better. Working together is important, and helping HISA understand what we actually do was more important than anything. A lot of these people coming in don't really know how the 2-year-old thing goes.

BH: What other challenges are you or the industry facing?

EW: The economics of the help are horrific. I bring 39 people from Mexico every year on visas. It costs me a fortune. I have to house and transport them. They cost me about $2,500 apiece before they ever even get here, and the government tells me what I have to pay them. It's crazy.

There is only so much you can charge people to keep horses. We're gonna be charging the same as they are at a lot of racetracks, and the guys at the track don't have the overhead we do running our own establishment.