Summer 2012
Eddie Woods: Developing Prospects fit for our program,” Sovereign Stable President Matt Gatsas said. “I’ve done some pinhooking partnerships with him acting as consignor in the past, but this is the first group of young horses we have sent to him that would go to the race track. I have a lot of respect for him. “He has a very nice and well-maintained facility and is welcoming to our partners. Those are important factors when I’m considering who I’m going to hire.”
Eddie Woods uses three “S” words to describe the approach at his renowned training center in Ocala, Fla. where he and his staff break and prepare Sovereign Stable’s young horses for the races. “We keep it simple,” Woods said. “Simple, straightforward and slow.” That philosophy has enabled Woods to find remarkable success in the development and sales of Thoroughbreds. Twenty-six years after arriving from Ireland to learn the breeding business, Woods is one of the premier horsemen in America. Among his top products are Kentucky Derby and Preakness winner Big Brown, 2012 Belmont Stakes winner Union Rags and sprint champion Midnight Lute. Woods has risen to the elite level of the country’s 2-year-old consigners and pinhookers and his horses often bring the highest prices at the 2-year-old auctions. Consigners do the prep work and the presentation of other people’s horses going to auction. Pinhookers buy young horses at sales and work with them for several months with the goal of reselling them for a profit.
The 240-acre training center has 36 paddocks, four barns, more than 140 stalls, many round pens, a one-mile dirt track and a seven-furlong turf course. In addition to sales work, Woods also develops horses that are being groomed for the track. All six of Sovereign’s 2-year-olds of 2012 went to the Woods finishing school before being sent to trainer John Terranova at Belmont Park. Sovereign’s 2011 yearlings, Slot Play, Curlin N Twirlin, Joy Seeker and Metro, spent the winter at the center and were introduced to the basics, from wearing a saddle, to carrying a rider, to jogging, galloping and breezing. The Frost Giant filly One and Only, along with War Glory, were sent to Woods after Matt bought them for Sovereign at the OBS April sale and OBS March sale, respectively. “He’s very honest in his assessment of horses, so I know where we’re at with each individual horse,” Matt said. Photo courtesy Louise E. Reinagal
Woods said he was pleased with the way things developed with the Sovereign prospects. “It went really well. It was very smooth. Everything was very straightforward,” he said. “Basically, they brought a nice group of horses to us and they were easy to take care of. “They came along very much the same. It was a group that stayed really sound.” After competing as a steeplechase rider, Woods came to the U.S. in 1986 and went to work for his father’s friend, Tony Everhart, in Florida. In 1993, Woods opened his own business. He moved his operation to the training center in 2000. He said it took “a lot of luck and a lot of hard work” to get where he is today. “The Everharts gave me a great foundation. I did all their sales work,” Woods said. “I started out by doing some yearling consignments and I kind of grew it from there.” During the winter months between the yearling and 2-year-olds sales, the horse population at the Woods center peaks at about 170 and the staff grows to 50 people. According to Woods, about half of the horses at the center are pinhooking prospects he owns alone or with partners and the rest are being consigned or trained to go directly to the track for other clients. Woods described himself as “an open book” when he arrived in America. He said Arab owners were buying the prime horse farms in Ireland in those days and he couldn’t get a job because he lacked experience on the breeding side of the business. He quickly discovered that wasn’t a role for him.
“I couldn’t handle the broodmare thing anyways. It’s too slow,” he said. “The sales was a better fit for me.” Woods has shown an eye for talent and his triple-s program allows horses to mature and blossom at the proper pace. “We set a sale as a target, but if that’s not working we back up and go somewhere else,” he said. “We don’t have to make that event, even if we really meant to. We do what’s best for the horse at the end of the day.” The rewards come when the horses blossom and perform well once they reach the track. “It’s immense when they turn out really, really good,” Woods said. “It’s fabulous when they live up to what you think they’re going to do and it’s very disappointing when they don’t. There’s a roller-coaster of emotions with these things as it goes along. But to bring a nice horse along and if it goes on to be a good horse it is thrilling.” Topping Woods’ personal hall of fame is Big Brown, the 2008 Kentucky Derby winner. Woods spent $60,000 on the yearling son of Boundary and sold him the next year to Paul Pompa for $190,000. “I bought him for myself and at a late sale,” Woods said. “He was by an unfashionable stallion. I loved him. We thought he was always really, really nice. No, we didn’t think he would win the Derby, but we thought he was very good. He went on and did everything and more than we thought he would do.”
Photo courtesy Louise E. Reinagal
“I’ve known Eddie for quite a while, always admired the great job he does preparing horses and thought he would be a perfect
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Photo courtesy Louise E. Reinagal
Sovereign Sunrise looking at the 2-year-olds
Gary and Diane with Shankopotamus
Craig and Marty at Belmont
Bill and Lamarr on the apron at Belmont
Emmy and Lily with Ramon and Johnny V Dick, Jack, Cheryl, and Bill at the Alibi Breakfast
Roy watches a morning workout
Jeff and his family at the Sovereign Sunrise
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John with his prized possession Steal the Dance
Rich and Steve share a laugh
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Kate Quigley and Vince Smith Q and A Kate Quigley and her husband, Vince Smith, live and work in Manhattan and have a shared love of horses and racing. Since completing her undergraduate studies at Yale and receiving an MBA from the Harvard Business School, the Connecticut native has worked for Credit Suisse, where she is a Managing Director. Kate spent the majority of her career on Wall Street in the Securities Division, but for the past five years, her focus has been on human resources and talent acquisition for the firm. Vince grew up in Philadelphia, graduated from Drexel University, studied for his Masters at the University of Pennsylvania and has worked for several Fortune 50 companies - American Express, DuPont and Pfizer. He is currently a Director at Citigroup focused on customer advocacy and competitive strategy roles.
What brought you to horse racing? Kate - “I grew up going to the races at Belmont and Saratoga. My father was very into horse racing, as was his father. It’s been in the family for a long time, but I’m the first owner. I always dreamed of being in the winner’s circle. It’s probably a common thing that people say.” Vince - “I think the first race that I actually saw was Secretariat winning the Belmont in 1973, but I’ve become a fan much more recently, especially since meeting Kate. During that time I would say I’ve come to really appreciate the sport and to love it as much as she does.”
When did you begin your involvement with Sovereign Stable? Kate - “In August of 2009, I saw Rich Cristiano at Saratoga. I had known him from his former company and we had stayed friends. He said, ‘We’re thinking of buying this filly from Canada. We haven’t bought many horses that are current runners, but our trainer, John Terranova, is really excited about this horse because she ran against one of his other horses and was very competitive.’ That year, a Canadian horse came down and won the Alabama. I said to Rich, ‘I definitely think we want to come in on this horse.’ That horse’s name was Negligee.”
What is your approach to horse ownership? Kate - “We have a bias toward fillies in our family. We’ve had some good colts, too. Vince owns Remand and he’s taken us to some great places. We need to have a lead owner, so we alternate. Vince owns Remand and Backdown. I have Steal the Dance, Shankopotamus and Slot Play. We share in each other’s glories. Since Negligee, we’ve ended up becoming more involved with Sovereign. I think it’s because we’ve always liked access to the barn and the ability to talk to the trainer. John Terranova and his wife are very welcoming people and answer questions. We enjoy that their horses run primarily in the New York area. That is something that is a real plus for us. The Gatsas family running Sovereign is great. They make us feel like their partners, as opposed to corporate. That’s very attractive. Matt and his dad are very personable. They’ll call up and say, ‘Good luck. We’re really excited about this race.’ It doesn’t feel businessy. It feels like we’re real partners with them. That’s very appealing to us.”
What other benefits have you found from being an owner? Kate - “One of the things that I really like is spending time in the barn getting to know the horses and the people who care for the horses. That was something that I hadn’t had exposure to when I was just sitting in the stands. In fact, Rich was very kind and introduced me to a non-profit organization that he served on the board for, the Backstretch Employee Service Team, otherwise known as B.E.S.T. I now sit on the board there and have for the last several years. I have become part of the racing community, not just of owners, but of trainers and other people who care for the workers. It’s fun for me to see that horse racing has taken me to places that I didn’t expect it to take me.” Vince - “I also sit on the board of a non-profit called GallopNYC, which uses hippotherapy. We use horses to treat autistic kids and returning war veterans. The work is highly rewarding, and amazing that horses have that much therapeutic power in areas where science struggles to find answers.”
Is there a link between your professional careers and your passion for racing? Kate - “The worlds of Wall Street and racing are similar in that they span a very broad socioeconomic group of people, the measurement is very direct and there is a lot of theory and art to it as well. Trying to outsmart the market, there are similarities between the way people pick stocks and the way you pick horses.” Vince - “To me, you get the same adrenaline rush when you are successful. It’s good when you have a winner and can actually go and celebrate with the athlete. Being in the winner’s circle is unique to this sport, which makes it special for me.”
What has been a highlight of your time as an owner? Kate - “Negligee was one. The first thing she did under the Sovereign colors was win a Grade 1 race at Keeneland. Then she took us to the Breeders’ Cup at Santa Anita, where she ran sideways. She might have hit the board if she hadn’t done that. For me, that was the opportunity to be at the highest level of racing. There’s no way any other sport would allow you the chance to be at the pinnacle of the sport in about two months. We bought her in September and by November we were in Los Angeles at the Breeders’ Cup. We’ve had some other runners since then and haven’t won another Grade 1. But that experience was incredible.”
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20 Market Street ~ Manchester, NH 03101 Phone: 866.329.2WIN (2946) ~ Fax: 603.647.9911 ~ Info@SovereignStable.com