Ruth Alice Hannah Mary Wood, Countess of Halifax (née Primrose, 18 April 1916 – 31 August 1989), was a British racehorse owner.
She was one of the first three women to be elected as a member of the Jockey Club in December 1977, alongside her half-sister Priscilla Hastings and Helen Johnson Houghton.
Ruth's half-sister Priscilla was born in 1920, but Lady Victoria Bullock was killed in an accident while hunting with the Quorn in 1927.
[2] Ruth Primrose married Charles Wood in 1936 and became Countess of Halifax after the death of her father-in-law in 1959, when her husband inherited the earldom.
They had three children:[3] The countess and her husband won The Derby with Shirley Heights in 1978;[4] the horse was jointly bred by the earl and his son.