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NEWS 
THE TEAM
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GETTING STARTED
FAMOUS HORSES
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ROSTER
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If you like Jazzy—and who doesn’t after her stakes win at Saratoga?—you will love Woodland City. Jazzy was a stakes winner in South Africa, but turned out to be a bleeder. A half interest was acquired by Team Valor, which sent her to New York to run on Lasix. In 2 starts, she has won a stakes at Saratoga and missed by a nose in another stakes at Monmouth Park. In her Saratoga win, she ran a remarkable race to earn a 3 on the Ragozin Sheets, which is the fastest race ever run by a Team Valor filly or mare. On Saturday Jazzy runs in the Grade 2 Gallant Bloom Handicap and, if she wins, is going to be supplemented to the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint. In South Africa, Jazzy ran 7 times, had 3 wins and 2 placed. Woodland City has run 7 times and won 5 times. “Woodland City is every bit as good as Jazzy, probably better,” said Geoff Woodruff, who ought to know, since he trained both fillies. “She is absolutely brilliant. I wouldn’t be afraid to run her against males, either. Under weight-for-age conditions, I think she can hold her own in the best company. She really should be unbeaten.
“Her only other loss came when I tried her over a mile. She finished a close fourth, beaten just over 2 lengths, but it was too far for her. She is a sprinter. She is quite effective between 5 and 7 furlongs.” Woodland City has a Merit Rating from the official handicap of the National Racing Authority (The Jockey Club) of 105, which is 2 pounds higher than Jazzy had when bought by Team Valor. To put Woodland City’s quality into perspective, she is rated 2 pounds below last season’s Champion 3-year-old filly Sun Classique and Champion older mare Bold Ellinore. Woodland City is rated 1 pound superior to last season’s Champion 3-year-old sprinter Ethereal Lady and 4 pounds higher than both the Classic winner Sally Bowles and the Grade 1 winner Little Miss Magic.
How good are South African filly sprinters? Last year, the highest-rated filly sprinter internationally was the South African 4-year-old National Colour, who beat Jazzy less than 2 lengths in a Grade 1 at Scottsville, in a race that Geoff Woodruff would have pointed Woodland City to, had Team Valor opted to leave her in South Africa. Another South African, Bad Girl Runs, broke the course record for 6 furlongs at Nad al Sheba when winning over the winter in Dubai. Mike de Kock has said that Bad Girl Runs is more talented than Irridescence. In her seasonal debut this year at 4 on September 6, Woodland City made light work of carrying a staggering 135 pounds to give 20 pounds and a beating to Ruffian Stakes winner Rosinante. Woodland City scored by 2 ½ lengths while conceding 20 pounds to the runner-up. It was Woodland City’s first race since the debacle in the Grade 1 Computaform Sprint, when Woodruff shut down his stable afterwards due to a virus. The filly’s win earlier this month came at Vaal race course in suburban Johannesburg, where leading trainer Woodruff prefers to stable his barn of talented runners. Woodland City was winning for a third time on the sand track at Vaal. In the first two starts of her career early as a 3-year-old, the bay filly won on the sand by 6 ¼ and 3 ½ lengths. She ran 6 furlongs in those two early races and 5 furlongs this months. Interestingly, the only time she ran under the lights at night, Woodland City won by nearly 9 lengths sprinting three-quarters on grass at Turffontein. “If I were to have kept the filly,” said trainer Woodruff, “my goal would have been the filly and mare Grade 1 sprint next May. But in the interim, I would have kept her at weight-for-age races, as she is so highly Merit Rated that the handicapper would have been forced to put crushing weight packages on her, as he did the other day. She is a definite Grade 1 winner in the making. I would not be afraid to run her against any sprinter.” Woodruff further stated that the filly is “equally good on sand or turf and should love racing on an all-weather surface like Polytrack.” The Champion trainer insisted the filly has “never had a day’s unsoundness.”
Team Valor will wait to see how the filly is training in Florida at Eisaman Equine before deciding on a trainer for her in the United States. Robin Bruss, the bloodstock agent responsible for putting this deal together, describes the filly as being “a powerhouse with good quarters and good legs. She is not as heavy bodied as Jazzy, but has similar strength for her size. She is very much an American-looking racehorse in terms of her balance.” Barry Irwin said “I like buying a horse from Geoff, because he is a classy trainer who does not squeeze the last drop of juice from them. This is a lightly race, but thoroughly proven horse that we should have a lot of fun with.” Woodland City has an appealing international pedigree. If one looks at a 4-generation cross, one sees that three-quarters of the names are of American descent.
The filly’s family is an international amalgam of top runners from England, Europe and South Africa. Woodland City is by Kentucky-bred Al Mufti, an international runner who raced in the United States, England, Germany and South Africa. He was a proven Group performer in Europe and ran second in South Africa’s biggest race, the Grade 1 Rothman’s July at the end of his career. Al Mufti is by the Classic racehorse and sire Roberto, who won the English Derby and established an enduring male sire line that today is best represented by leading North American sire Dynaformer, the sire of the incomparable Barbaro as well as this year’s $3.7-million Keeneland September Yearling Sale topping colt. The leading Freshman, Juvenile and General Sire in South Africa at one time or another, Al Mufti has sired 10 Grade 1 winners to date and they run the gamut of types. Among his best runners, however, have been the following:
Al Mufti is a half-brother to 4 stakes winners, notably Weekend Surprise, the Graded stakes-winning dam of A. P. Indy and Summer Squall, and Charming Lassie, the dam of Lemon Drop Kid. A P Indy is currently the most fashionable stallion standing in North America, having replaced Storm Cat. Horse of the Year, winner of the Preakness and Belmont Stakes, he stands at Lane’s End Farm in Kentucky. Summer Squall also won the Preakness and stood successfully at Lane’s End Farm. Lemon Drop Kid, one of the hottest young stallions in the world and represented by a Kentucky Oaks winner in his first crop, won the Belmont Stakes, was Champion Older Horse in the United States and also stands at Lane’s End Farm. Barry Irwin has said on more than one occasion that Al Mufti sire the most “American-looking” stock of any stallion standing in South Africa. “They are quite uniform in type, with great balance as their hallmark, excellent angle of pastern and wonderful quality. I have seen many that I would buy and actually have bought two fillies in Whistledownthewind and Ice Gold.”
The first dam of Woodland City is a half-sister to 3 stakes winners, most notably Colonial Girl, who was voted Champion Filly or Mare Stayer after defeating males in the Gold Cup over 2 miles. The next dam produced 2 stakes winners and was the grandam of half a dozen more. Most notable under that matron is Atraf, a Maktoum Family-owned international sprinter who won the Jaipur Handicap at Belmont, was Champion Sprinter in Dubai, won a Group 3 sprint at Royal Ascot, and has become a leading sprint sire in England. Parties interested in joining the syndicate which will campaign Woodland City are asked to contact Amy Collingsworth at Team Valor’s office in Versailles, Kentucky at (888) 434-2677 or teamvalor2@aol.com. Related Links:
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