a way of life for horsewoman gayle woods
Gayle Woods was born in Worcestershire, England in1959 during a major storm, hence the name Gayle. A farmer's daughter Gayle (Spiers) Woods was raised in Worcestershire where she began a way of life with horses. Starting with Pony Club, Gayle continued to hunt and compete in shows, hunter trials and eventing. Following graduation from secretarial school, she began training and soon produced her first point-to-point winner. Married in 1982, her success continued in the show ring. While working for former father-in-law Paddy Woods, she rode a winner at the Royal Dublin Horse Show for owners Leslie Fitzpatrick and Tommy Brennan.
a destiny rich with world-class racehorses
Gayle's entrance into the Thoroughbred racing world began in 1986 when she came to Florida to be employed by Tony and Johanne Everard's Another Episode Farm. Here she was able to gain a solid foundation breaking and training and preparing young racehorses for the racetack and sales. During this time, she was fortunate to have worked with such horses as FOURSTARDAVE, FOURSTARALLSTAR, IRISH ACTRESS and IRISH LINNETT to name a few.
In October 1994, the Woods' went out on their own, training and consigning horses under the Eddie Woods name. "We were lucky to receive the Elmendorf Farm (Jack Kent-Cooke) horses to break and prepare for the races, we owe a great deal to manager Bobby Spalding for getting us started." says Gayle. It soon became evident the Woods' ability to turn a good racehorse . . and from this relationship developed the rapport with Bill Mott that continues today. Some of the success from that time includes Graded stakes winners : ANTESPEND, MARI' S SHEBA, COLCON, KEY LORY and HALORY HUNTER.
Since those days, the Woods' became very successful and have ranked among the leading consignors of two-year-olds. At the 2000 Fasig-Tipton Calder sale, HARMONY LODGE, a filly by Hennessy, out Grade 3 stakes winner Win Crafty Lady, set a record for the highest price ever paid for a filly at public auction, and was purchased by Eugene Melnyk. “Selling Harmony Lodge for $1.65 million was probably the most significant highlight of our career,” said Gayle. Since being on her own Gayle has produced graded stakes winners Subtle Aly, Deputy Glitters, Slews Tizzy, Game On Dude, Kiss The Kid, and Excaper who was second in the Breeders Cup Juvenile Turf G1 in only his third start.
Our facility is located at Nelson Jones Farm in the heart of Ocala's training mecca.