Miss Woodford

Miss Woodford (1880–1899) was a brown Thoroughbred racemare that became one of the top American fillies of all time. At one stage, she won 16 consecutive races.

Background

She was bred by Colonel Catesby Woodford and Colonel Ezekial Clay of Runnymede Farm near Paris, Kentucky. (Ezekial Clay was chairman of the Kentucky State Racing Commission.) Miss Woodford was by Billet, (imported from England, and the leading sire in America in 1883, due almost entirely to Miss Woodford), out of the unraced Fancy Jane, by Neil Robinson.

Miss Woodford was sold to Mike and Phil Dwyer of the Dwyer Brothers Stable to replace Hindoo, their retired champion. They traded Hindoo as a stallion prospect plus a couple of fillies (two daughters of the mare Maggie B.B.: Red and Blue by Alarm, and Francesca by Leamington; Francesca was a stakes winner) to her then owner, George W. Bowen, in exchange for $9,000 cash and his three-year-old filly.

Racing record

Miss Woodford had already raced for Bowen & Company, winning the Spinaway Stakes. After she was purchased by the Dwyers, Miss Woodward, like Hindoo, was trained by National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame inductee James G. Rowe, Sr. A dispute with the Dwyers concerning Miss Woodford caused Rowe to resign and become a racing official. Eventually, though, Rowe returned to training, campaigning great runners such as Sysonby, Colin, two-time Horse of the Year (1900-1901) Commando: the sire of Colin, Peter Pan, Maskette and Sweep.) At the time they acquired Miss Woodford, the Dwyer brothers already owned a colt who was considered the best of his crop. With the addition of Miss Woodford, they now owned a top colt, George Kinney, and a top filly.

One of the highlights of her three-year-old season was defeating George Kinney, her stablemate who had won the Belmont Stakes. At three, four, and five, Miss Woodford won 16 consecutive races. By the end of her fifth year of racing, Miss Woodford was America's leading money winner, having earned $98,179. She won six races in less than two months at the age of six.^[1]

One of her best efforts was the Eclipse Stake at the Fair Grounds in St Louis. There she faced the first two winners of the American Derby: Modesty and Volante. Miss Woodford won to push her earnings over the $100,000 mark, becoming the first horse ever to do so in a racing career. She also won the Monmouth Cup at Long Branch Racetrack (twice), the Monmouth Oaks, the Ocean Stakes (three times), the Eatontown Stakes and the West End Hotel Stakes.

Miss Woodford ran in 48 races and won 37. She was second in 7 and third in 2. In her three match races, she won two. Her lifetime earnings at distances up to 2½ miles amounted to $118,270. This made her the highest stakes winning filly in American history. Firenze followed her in earnings, and then came Yo Tambien.

Stud record

Miss Woodford was sold to James B. A. Haggin and was bred. Although she produced the stakes winners George Kessler and Sombre, as well as three other winners from nine foals, none of her progeny approached her abilities.

Honors

Miss Woodford was inducted into the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame in Saratoga Springs, New York, in 1967.

Hall of Fame trainers Sunny Jim Fitzsimmons, Thomas J. Healey, A. Jack Joyner, R. Wyndham Walden, and Rowe all thought her one of the best fillies of all time. In a poll among members of the American Trainers Association, conducted in 1955 by Delaware Park Racetrack, Miss Woodford was voted the fifth greatest filly in American racing history. Gallorette was voted first.

The Miss Woodford Stakes has been run at Monmouth Park in her memory since 1952.

Miss Woodford died in 1899 at Elmendorf Farm in Lexington, Kentucky.

See also

• List of leading Thoroughbred racehorses
• Repeat winners of horse races

References

• Miss Woodford's pedigree
• Miss Woodford at The National Sporting Library's Thoroughbred Heritage website
• Miss Woodford in the Hall of Fame
• Women of the Year - Ten Fillies Who Achieved Horse Racing's Highest Honor by the Staff and Correspondents of The Blood-Horse magazine (2004) Eclipse Press ISBN 1-58150-116-1