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EMERSON F WOODWARD Emerson F Woodward Succumbs To Injuries in AutoTrain Crash Was Master of Extensive Valdina Farm in Texas Mrs Woodward Also Killed KilledHOUSTON HOUSTON Texas May 24 Emerson F Woodward died early this morning at a hospital in Hondo 19 miles from Valdina Farm as a result of injuries sustained when the automobile in which he and Mrs Woodward were driving was struck by a train Saturday at the DHaniss grade cross ¬ ing about 10 miles from the farm He was 64 64Mrs Mrs Woodward was killed almost in ¬ stantly and her body was brought to Hous ¬ ton Sunday at the direction of her sister Mrs Ralph Colvin who resides at Valdina Woodwards body was brought here today His chest and body crushed he lingered throughout Sunday and until about 230 this morning Several blood transfusions failed to restore him to consciousness consciousnessMr Mr Woodward is survived by a brother W Z Woodward the widow of his son Harley who was killed in an airplane crash several years ago and her son Robert Woodward who is a student at Texas Mili ¬ tary Institute The Woodwards maintained a home at 1605 Heights Blvd Houston and it was from this place that they were driving to Valdina where they spent most of their time when Mr Woodward was not with his racing stable His horses are now at Hawthorne in the care of trainer Frank Catrone CatroneTOO TOO Mares at Nursery NurseryIt It is at this farm that all the Valdina named horses are bred and it has become one of the largest in the country where there now are more than a hundred mares five stallions sixtyeight foals of this spring and about sixty yearlings these in charge of Monte Preston PrestonMr Mr Woodwards Houston and Valdina business interests are looked after largely by William B Barnhill who has been asso ¬ ciated with the capitalistsportsman since the formation of Valdina Frank Podesta is in charge of the sales and interests of the organizations organizationsMrs Mrs Woodward had one other sister Mrs Guy Martin of Hull Texas and one brother H Stanley Garry of New Mexico MexicoAnnouncement Announcement of funeral arrangements was withheld pending the arrival here of William Barnhill associate in the manage ¬ ment of Valdina and other Woodward in ¬ terests from Hondo When he was 11 years old Emerson F Woodward started work as a pumper for the Carter Oil Company in Pennsylvania As a driller or superintendent he worked in oil fields in Pennsylvania Oklahoma Arkansas Louisiana and Texas With the late T P Lee of Houston and the late Frank Yount of Beaumont he helped to organize the YountLee Oil Company which discovered oil at Spindletop SpindletopIn In 1935 the fabulously successful Yount Lee company was sold to Wright Morrow of Houston who sold out to the Stanolind Oil and Gas Company an estimated 46 000000 being involved Not long after the corisummation of that deal Woodward who by then had become one of Texas very rich men retired from the oil busi ¬ ness and since has devoted a great part of his time to the building of Valdina Farms Inc the largest establishment devoted al ¬ most exclusively to the breeding of thor ¬ oughbred horses in the Southwest and to the development of the Valdina Farm rac Continued on Page Seven Emerson F Woodward Head of Valdina Farm Succumbs to Auto Crash Injuries Maintained One of Largest Breeding Places in Nation Mrs Woodward Also Killed KilledContinued Continued from Page One Oneing ing stable now one of the most extensive In the sport sportThere There is an old hardboot boast that every day brings at least one winner of a Kentuckybred horse It is getting to the point where it might be said with pretty certain accuracy that a racing day hardly ever passes that a Valdina does not win for there now are so many Valdinabreds with the Valdina prefix to their names that they are entered and winning on almost all tracks tracksLegend Legend of Valdina Prefix PrefixThe The legend about the Valdina part of the name is that early in the life of the establishment Woodward and his associate William B Barnhill often had many of the names of their twoyearolds rejected for reasons that were sufficient for The Jockey Club The introduction of Valdina not only proved a remedy for this but it also stimulated Woodwards pride in his grow ¬ ing establishment for breeding and racing his own stock had become the big thing in his life especially after the death in 1936 of his son sonHarley Harley Woodward and a cousin were killed wheri their plane crashed into a mountain in Arkansas He also had taken a great interest in the early development of Valdina Farm and like his father had become an expert trap shooter Trap shoot ¬ ing was a hobby of the elder Woodward Thirty years ago he was oneof the organ ¬ izers of the Houston Gun Club and he be ¬ came one of the worlds topflight marks ¬ men After the death of his son he gave this up but returned to it in recent years with practically the same oldvaccuracy of aim Once when he and a younger com ¬ petitor tied for the championship of Texas he declined to enter into a shootoff so that the younger man might be certain of the title titleWoodward Woodward began his breeding activities in 1933 when he purchased nine mares and the stallions Baggenbaggage and Port ¬ manteau Two years later he bought Sortie from Morton L Schwartz and the same year added Osculator to his growing nurs ¬ ery It is reported that he paid 18000 to William R Coe for the son of Pompey Sorties Son who as his name indicates is by Sortie is now standing at stud at the mammoth Valdina nursery nurseryIn In 1936 a twoyearold colt called Val ¬ dina made his appearance on the nations race tracks and while this youngster was owned by Woodward he wasnt bred by him being by Bull Dog and out of Glen lass Valdina won one race out of eight engagements that season started once the following year but was sold as a fouryear old and thereafter campaigned in the lower brackets in which he won a good number of races racesBought Bought Sweep Mares MaresIt It was also in 1936 as mentioned previ ¬ ously that the name of the racing stable was changed to Valdina Farm and the establishment won twelve races that season seasonIn In his desire to build one of the foremost breeding establishments in the country Woodward went to all sections of this country and abroad to buy the best possible mares Daughters of the stallion Sweep were sought by him and through continu ¬ ous purchasing of these matrons he came to own more Sweep mares than anyone in the country countryIn In 1939 there were 32 horses who started in one or more races bearing the prefix Valdina excepting the horse Valdina who of course wasnt bred by the Texan TexanThe The following year the number of Val dinas who started in one or more races had increased to 58 in 1941 86 carried the pre ¬ fix in 1942 111 and it is estimated that this season the number will reach 200 200It It was from the most modest beginning indeed that Valdina became great In 1934 Sallie Ellen a maiden fiveyearold mare went to the post in a cheap claiming race at Alamo Downs San Antonio She was making her racing debut for Running W Ranch J A Gormley trainer Sallie Ellen trailed her field There were tew horses in the barn that were any better than she but Woodward Barnhill were soon inter ¬ ested in breeding and racing in a big way The name of the establishment was changed when it was found that the Run ¬ ning W Ranch label and brand were regis ¬ tered by a cattle breeder Valdina it be ¬ came the name being a contraction of the two names of the two Texas counties in which the 19000 acre farm is located Uvalde and Medina MedinaTeddys Teddys Comet Pride of Establishment EstablishmentBy By 1939 when the first really homebred crop went out there were nearly half a hundred Now there are more than 100 mares at Valdina the stallions Teddys Comet Osculator Petrose Hollywood Knights Caprice It was announced re ¬ cently there were upwards of 60 foals of 1943 at the farm Teddys Comet who ran a dead heat with Tiger in the Arlington Futurity is the pride of Valdina but in the last two years Woodward has imported so much stock from England and Ireland that others have lately been much in the public eye notably the recently retired Hollywood Rounders who defeated Whirlaway in the 1942 Ar ¬ lington Handicap Knights Caprice who served his first season at stud in Texas in 1942 the imported mares Ski and Uvira Woodward also imported Saint Andrews holder of the worlds record of 159 for a mile and a quarter over a straight course with 133 pounds up at Brighton England but Saint Andrews failed in racing here and now stands at another Lone Star farm farmDuring During the latter part of the 1930s some of the outstanding horses who carried the maroon and white silks were Sir Emerson Miss Diavolo Uvalde Viajero Viscounty Eagle Pass Calculator Cross S Sorties Son Solar Hawk Range Dust Lassator Hermana Valted Roy T and Night Bandit BanditValdina Valdina Orphan winner of the Dwyer Stakes over Shut Out last year and re ¬ garded highly in the handicap ranks ta date this year is perhaps the best horse ever to carry the Valdina cognomen STICKNEY 111 May 24 The tragic deaths of Emerson F Woodward owner of Valdina Farm and his wife both enthu ¬ siastic admirers of the thoroughbred shocked horsemen racing officials and track executives here today They haU planned te be in Chicago this week and to remain for a good part of the Lincoln Fields meeting at Hawthorne but had de ¬ layed their departure from Texas because of weather and flood conditions conditionsBoth Both Mr and Mrs Woodward were well known and greatly respected by their asso ¬ ciates in racing and except for last sum ¬ mer when their stable was raced exten ¬ sively in the East they had been annual visitors here ever ince they entered the thoroughbred sport They had season boxes at all of Chicagos major tracks and when they were in the city they missed few days at the races racesIn In charge of their trainer Frank Catrone they had 30odd horses at Hawthorne for Lincoln Fields racing among them Val ¬ dina Orphan who is the early favorite for next Mondays Francis S Peabodys Me ¬ morial Handicap and Rounders who will be remembered by Chicagoans for his thrilling victory over Whirlaway in the Arlington Handicap last summer
