eddie woods
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If you are looking for a sprinter, they have to have that hip, the good shoulder, and they won’t look like the grass horse, but they will have a similar quality to them
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but if there’s something he didn’t like, he’d tell me.” Woods credits his ability to find good horses at a reasonable price to his upbringing. “That’s one thing you pick up from back home. All of us had been on horses since we were kids,” he says, “and you get to know the difference between a nice horse and one that isn’t.” oods does not always have the highest prices on his horses, but they often end up being good runners. He knows that a trainer can only be as successful as the horses he has so he looks more for the quality of the individual as a racehorse rather than following hot sires or one that will do well in the sales ring. He chooses different types in order to appeal to a variety of trainers and their preferences. “A big two-turn grass horse, well, you know what they are supposed to look like, and if you buy a Dynaformer you expect the
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Above: trainer Bob Baffert who is a big supporter of Eddie Woods, and, left, the Woods graduate Big Brown wins the Kentucky Derby
Baffert can relax with Woods, not putting pressure on him, because if Woods needs to back off a horse, he will tell him. Among the yearlings that Baffert turned over to Woods to train are 2010 Grade 2 winner Always A Princess. Likewise, when selling his pinhooks, Woods’s opinion can be trusted. “When buying from him, you know he’s a salesman, but he’s into repeat customers,” explains Baffert, having purchased dual Breeders’ Cup Sprint (G1) winner Midnight Lute from Woods. “He’ll put his two cents in,
Photo: Matt Goins
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