Gail Wood: Her Success and Lifetime of Quiet Excellence

Gail Wood has let her success in the thoroughbred breeding and selling business speak for itself, preferring to keep a low profile while she worked long days and nights at her Woodlands Farm in Hillsburgh, ON.

For several decades, those horses that have gone through her hands have made Wood one of the most influential people in the province’s racing industry.

And while Wood entered ‘semi-retirement’ this year, her trimming of her business alone drew as much attention to her as her top racehorses. Wood sold one of her two farms to LongRun Thoroughbred Retirement Society at a price the charitable group could afford, giving the important group a permanent home for retired racehorses.

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For that, LongRun presented Wood with its Lana Hershel Sniderman Award for the ethical treatment of racehorses before and after their careers at its annual party at Woodbine Racetrack. It was a poignant, heartfelt moment for Wood who was close friends of the late Sniderman. Wood’s late husband, Dan Steeves, who helped her build up her business, was also very close to Sniderman and her husband Spencer.

“It was very touching,” said Wood. “Dan would have loved to have been there for the award presentation.”

It was a grant left in Sniderman’s will, to LongRun, that allowed the group to purchase Wood’s farm.

“Lana and her husband became clients of mine when they bought a few horses,” said Wood. “And Lana was always very concerned (about) what happened to horses after they were done racing. She showed dogs and when they were done showing they would be household pets.”

Unfortunately, Sniderman became ill with lung cancer and passed away before she saw the LongRun/Wood project come to fruition.

As for Wood selling one of her two farms, that plan had been put in place by Wood and Steeves when she took over the former Harry Hindmarsh property, where she managed for many years. Steeves and Wood built a house and barns on another property nearby and that remains a home for her and a smaller band of horses and boarders.

“Well it was time,” said Wood. “At my age, it was time not to work quite as hard and not to have quite so many responsibilities.”

Indeed, the Woodlands training centre and breeding operation had been home to well over 100 on occasion, breeding upwards of 50 mares and breaking some 40 yearlings.

From Woodlands came stakes winners such as Kabeeb, Cavalier Billie and, in 2006, champion and Queen’s Plate winner Edenwold, co-bred by Bill Diamant and Wood’s close friend Vicki Pappas (also chairperson of LongRun).

Gail Wood downsizing to one farm

With just one farm, Wood can now concentrate on her own, small racing stable — one she shares with sister Dr. Ruth Barbour — and foal out and break fewer than two dozen horses.

Wood and Barbour have had plenty of success with their runners in recent years including 2016 stakes winner Bangkok, winner of the Valedictory Stakes. Trained by Phil Gracey, who conditions all of the Wood and Barbour horses, Bangkok joined the racing stable when he went unsold five years ago.

“He went to Kentucky to be sold as a yearling,” said Wood. “That was the first year that we didn’t know if we would have racing the next year following the cancellation of the slots and Ontario racing program. It didn’t make any sense for me to sell him here. But whoever bid on Bangkok, disappeared after signing the ticket so we brought him home.”

Bangkok, bought back for $9,500 (U.S.) has won over $340,000. His younger half-sister, Worlds Your Oyster (taken from the 1980s pop song ‘One Night in Bangkok’) won her career debut as a 2-year-old this fall and looks to have a bright future.

Another Wood and Barbour runner, Kasuga, was a multiple winner for the sisters before she was claimed in 2017. That mare has gone on to be a stakes winner in the U.S. for trainer Bill Mott.

Wood has also been an integral part of the industry from boardrooms of various groups including Ontario Horse Racing Industry Association (OHRIA) and the Canadian Thoroughbred Horse Society (Ontario) (CTHS). She is hopeful that the Ontario breeders and sales consignors will have some good news soon with a signed agreement with the provincial government.

“I don’t think anyone should look at (our yearling) sale’s weaker numbers as a sign of the sale’s quality. There have been fabulous horses come out of the sale every year,” Wood said.

“Until there is security within the industry and with the purse structure, which took a drop in the spring, it’s very difficult for people to invest in horses.”

Ontario Racing (OR) — which took the place of OHRIA — Woodbine and other groups have been working feverishly with the provincial government to get a funding deal in place by the end of 2017.

“It’s not just about being at the racetrack, it’s about the farms and its employees, people who sell feed, blacksmiths, people who produce hay and straw; the amount of people that depend on this industry as part of their business plan is huge.”

Getting something in writing by the end of this year is crucial, said Wood.

“Those at OR and the CTHS have worked hours upon hours every week. They really need a great deal of gratitude, it’s a thankless job but somebody has to do it.

“Since we lost the slots partnership deal, the industry has gone from being in agriculture to finance to OLG,” explained Wood about the responsibility for horse racing being shuffled through various government portfolios. “The biggest problem is it’s very difficult to work through bureaucracy when you are constantly dealing with new people, people who have to be educated about the horse industry. Instead of going forward with ideas and solutions, the education process takes up all of everyone’s time.”

Wood emphasizes, however, that horse racing has survived hundreds of years through many hurdles.

“I am hopeful,” said Wood. “Racing has survived the millennium, how many hundred of years has there been horse racing? It puts hockey and baseball to shame.”