It’s been a week to remember for the Woodsford family.
Family patriarch Steven Woodsford tasted success at Riccarton last Saturday with Street Fightin Man, and on Wednesday his daughter Bridget followed suit when recording her first win as a trainer courtesy of Blue Bay on the Riccarton Synthetic.
Blue Bay had finished runner-up first-up on the surface last month and Woodsford was confident her mare could go one better at the midweek meeting.
“It was a big confidence boost when she ran second,” Woodsford said. “I thought she was going to go alright, she pulled up well after that last race and had been working well this week, so I had a bit of hope in her that she was going to go alright.”
Formerly trained in Cambridge by Tony Pike, Blue Bay had three placings from 11 starts in the north before she was offered on gavelhouse.com where Woodsford secured her with a final bid of $3,500.
“She looked like a nice type so we thought we would give her a go,” she said.
The daughter of Preferment has proven to be a bargain buy, nearly recouping her purchase price in her first start for Woodsford, who is now well in the green after picking up $11,200 for Wednesday’s triumph.
Both of Blue Bay’s southern starts have been on Riccarton’s synthetic, and Woodsford said she elected to try her mare on the surface after seeing she had performed well on Cambridge’s polytrack at the trials.
“She had a trial up north on it and she had won, so I thought we would give her a go down here and see what she thinks of it,” she said.
Woodsford shares in the ownership of Blue Bay with Sanjay Balloo and Vikash Pothanna, both of whom she met through her partner, jockey Akshay Balloo.
“My partner’s uncle shares in the ownership as well as Vikash, who is a friend through Akshay,” she said.
Balloo was aboard runner-up Iff I Get Paaid, and Woodsford said she is glad to have the bragging rights in the relationship for the next wee while.
The 29-year-old horsewoman has had a lifelong involvement with racing, and has spent time working in both thoroughbred and harness racing stables, and is now enjoying making her own mark as a trainer.
“My Dad is a trainer, so I grew up with the horses,” she said. “I had ponies when I was young and then I eventually moved on to helping out with the racehorses.
“When I was 18, I started to work for Tarsh and Michael Stokes. I was with them for five years and then I went to the trotting side for a couple of years and worked for Andrew Stuart. I then went back to Dad’s and started to help him out and last year I thought I would give it a go myself.
“I have got two in work at the moment and I am really enjoying it. I am still working full-time, so I am enjoying working them around that.”
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