As David Scanlon and his wife, Blair King, walked the Fasig-Tipton sales grounds the evening of Aug. 5, passersby offered the couple congratulations. It wasn't for a yearling they bought at The Saratoga Sale—that would come later in the night with the purchase of Hip 151—but rather for their recent acquisition of a training center near Ocala, Fla., formerly owned by Eddie Woods and his wife, Angela.
The Thoroughbred Daily News first reported the news of Scanlon and King's purchase of the 240-acre training center.
Scanlon is known in the business as a leading 2-year-old consignor and pinhooker, as well as superb horseman who provides young horses with their early training before they reach the racetrack. One of the recent graduates to come through his program is last year's champion 3-year-old male Sierra Leone, winner of the 2024 Breeders' Cup Classic (G1) at Del Mar. The colt also won the Aug. 2 Whitney Stakes (G1) at Saratoga Race Course, and is among the leading older horses of 2025. Another star Scanlon prepared for the racetrack is Rags to Riches, the 2007 Belmont Stakes (G1) winner and champion 3-year-old filly that year.
For the last nine years, Scanlon has been leasing the Oak Ridge Training Center near Morriston, Fla. His high-profile clients include Godolphin, Coolmore, Qatar Racing, Don Alberto Corp., and Calumet. Scanlon said there are new clients on the horizon.
"Oak Ridge has been great to us. We've actually grown as the place has grown," Scanlon said. "Our business really did well there. While our business has grown, our client list grew, and the horse numbers grew, so we kinda outgrew leasing.
"We were in the market (to buy) and we started looking around the past year or two. We looked at a lot of farms and kept an open mind. We hadn't found a farm that fit. Most of the farms were too small where you would have had to downsize or stay the same. Or maybe some of them were not enough stalls but too much land."
The perfect fit was the property vacated by Eddie and Angela Woods, who retired this spring after decades as being recognized as extraordinary consignors of prized horseflesh. In the sales ring, the couple were represented by a sizable number of stars including champions Big Brown and Lady Eli.
Scanlon and King's newly acquired property features 196 stalls, a mile racetrack, seven-furlong turf course, 41 paddocks, an equine swimming pool, walking machines, and round pens. Besides being aesthetically pleasing, Scanlon said it's evident that a horseman designed the property with its purpose in mind. "Eddie put a lot of thought into what a day (at the training center) would look like."
"We've always admired Eddie and Angela and how they've done business, the lives they created, and how much success they've had," Scanlon said. "Both Blair and myself said we would love to follow in their footsteps. To fall into something that Eddie and Angela had, and become guardians of a farm like that ... it's a dream that has come true."
