Scanlons Take Over Eddie Woods Training Center

[Wandering Eyes]

SARATOGA SPRINGS, NY –  David Scanlon and his wife Blair King, who have been leasing at the Oak Ridge Training Center in Morriston, have found a new home for their growing business with the purchase of the 240-acre training center in Ocala formerly owned by legendary horseman Eddie Woods and his wife Angela.

“It was one of those things that we felt like it was meant to be,” Scanlon said Tuesday morning at the Fasig-Tipton sales grounds. “We had actually been in the market for a little bit, looking around. Business has been good and we've expanded. The horse numbers went up and the quality of our clientele has gone up. Oak Ridge has been great to us, but we were starting to outgrow the leasing. So this seemed like a natural progression.”

The property on Highway 40 was actually under contract with a developer when Scanlon and King had their first tour.

“We had been out there and had some discussions with the people who had the contract and were trying to sell us pieces of it. So we had actually done a tour,” Scanlon said. “That's when it was first on our radar. We thought, 'Man wouldn't it be something?' But there was a lot going on with that contract and then things started to happen when that fell through. I said to Eddie, 'If anything happens, just call me.' And then just everything fell into place.”

Asked if the purchase was a nerve-wracking step, Scanlon said with a smile, “Yes. And it still is. We had a five-year program to buy a farm and it's kind of happened in our third year. But we just thought we could be where Eddie and Angela were at this point in our career and emulate their success. That would be great.”

The training center, which has 41 paddocks, six barns, 196 stalls, a mile track, a 7/8-mile turf course and multiple round pens, is basically a turnkey operation for Scanlon and King.

“The farm is designed by a horseman,” Scanlon said. “It's a working person's farm. It's beautiful aesthetically, but then it's a working farm. We can grow our business there. A lot of farms that we looked at, we just were like, 'Hey, that's nice, but we are going to either have to downsize or stay the same.' They just didn't have room to grow.”

Scanlon, the son of the late pinhooking pioneer Robert Scanlon, has built his own portfolio of successful pinhooks, as well as establishing a high-power list of clients.

“We have a great list of clients already with Godolphin, Coolmore, Prince Fahad of Qatar, Don Alberto, and Calumet,” Scanlon said. “Hopefully we are going to add some big clients to that list now, too. Our breaking business will expand. And gradually with the breaking business expanding, the pinhook business will hopefully expand as well.”

Scanlon said the plan is to transition all of their horses over to the new property by the end of August.

“Eddie and Angela have been really good, answering all of the questions we've had,” Scanlon said. “They've been super in helping us get settled in.”

Eddie and Angela Woods, who offered their final consignment at the Ocala Breeders' Sales Company's April sale, have also been at the Fasig-Tipton sales grounds in Saratoga this week. The couple looked relaxed and refreshed after a holiday in Ireland and with a trip to Papua New Guinea planned for October.

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