William Woodward Sr.’s importation of the Sardanapale filly Sekhmet as a yearling in 1930 continued the pattern Woodward had followed almost from the beginning of his career as a breeder. The Wall Street banker based his breeding program on well-connected European-bred mares such as Fairy Ray, second dam of Triple Crown winner Gallant Fox; Flambette, second dam of Triple Crown winner Omaha and Kentucky Derby and Belmont Stakes winner Johnstown; and the great French-bred stallion Sir Gallahad III.
Sekhmet’s daughter Segula, by Johnstown, produced perhaps the greatest Woodward-bred of all, Nashua, by Nasrullah, and her family has continued to produce high-class runners, most recently Florida Sunshine Millions Sprint Stakes winner Soaring Stocks, by Trippi.
Soaring Stocks is the 12th foal and second stakes winner produced by Silk Stocks, a good Medieval Man filly who won four of 18 starts and earned $93,004, including the 1989 Opa-Locka Stakes at Hialeah Park. Silk Stocks’ fifth foal, Silk Broker, by Pentelicus, finished second in the 1998 Saratoga Special Stakes (G2), and her seventh, Razor, by Concorde’s Tune, captured both the Matt Winn and Dixieland Stakes in 2005. Soaring Stocks’ half sisters Valid Silk and Silk Appeal, both by Valid Appeal, are both stakes producers. Silk Stocks is a half sister to Grade 2 winner Meritocrat, by On to Glory, and to multiple graded stakes winner On to Royalty, also by On to Glory, dam of 1996 Preakness Stakes (G1) winner Louis Quatorze, by Sovereign Dancer, and Grade 1 winner Royal Indy, by A.P. Indy. Another half sister, Penniless Heiress, by Pentelicus, is the dam of Grade 1 winner and successful sire Wildcat Heir, by Forest Wildcat, and his stakes-winning full siblings Forest Heiress and Forest Heir. Yet another half sister, Thwack, by Fight Over, is the dam of $1,022,217-earner and multiple graded stakes winner J J’sdream, by Glitterman.
Soaring Stocks’ second dam, Royal Ties, by Distinctive, was a half sister to 1974 American Derby (G1) winner Determined King, by Determined Man. Stavros Niarchos purchased Soaring Stocks’ fifth dam, Nashua’s dam, Segula, for a then-record $126,000 in 1956. Soaring Stocks is one of 35 stakes winners for his sire, Trippi, who passed another milestone on the same day when his daughter Agra became his first stakes winner conceived after his sale to South Africa’s L’Ormarins Stud. Bred in Florida by the late Harry T. Mangurian Jr., Trippi was one of the best sons of Mangurian’s highly successful stallion End Sweep, by Forty Niner.
Sold to Dogwood Stable for only $65,000 at the 1999 Keeneland April two-year-olds in training sale, Trippi won seven of his first nine starts despite an awkward, high-knee action. A dedicated front-runner, Trippi was primarily a sprinter, winning the Vosburgh Stakes (G1), Riva Ridge Stakes (G2), Tom Fool Handicap (G2), and Swale Stakes (G3) at seven furlongs, but stretched his speed to 11⁄8 miles in the 2000 Flamingo Stakes (G3).
Trippi’s best progeny likewise have been most effective at distances from six furlongs to 11⁄8 miles, led by 2010 Spinaway Stakes (G1) winner R Heat Lightning, 2007 Kelso Handicap (G2) winner Trippi’s Storm, 2011 Swale Stakes (G2) winner Travelin Man, and 2009 Queen Mary Stakes (Eng-G2) winner Jealous Again. Soaring Stocks is a relative outcross, with a 5×4 duplication of Never Bend his closest repeated name. His second dam, the outstanding broodmare Royal Ties, however, was inbred 3×3 to *Nasrullah, sparking a revival of this outstanding family.
William Woodward Sr. died before Nashua raced, and his son, William Woodward Jr., accidentally was shot and killed by his wife, Ann, in a sensational case that inspired both Dominick Dunne’s bestselling novel The Two Mrs. Grenvilles and Truman Capote’s Answered Prayers.
Although those deaths led to the sale of Segula, her descendants have maintained the legacy of the Woodwards.
John P. Sparkman is bloodstock editor of THOROUGHBRED TIMES and author of Foundation Mares.
His e-mail address is [email protected]
More of his work can be viewed at http://pedigreecurmudgeon.blogspot.com
