This race is to honor the memory of Belair Stud's William Woodward Sr., a dedicated horseman, who was chairman of the Jockey Club from 1930 to 1950.
The Woodward has been won by many horses who were subsequently named the American Horse of the Year and twenty winners of the race were eventually inducted into the Hall of Fame: Sword Dancer, Kelso, Gun Bow, Buckpasser, Damascus, Arts and Letters, Forego, Seattle Slew, Affirmed, Spectacular Bid, Slew o’ Gold, Precisionist, Alysheba, Easy Goer, Holy Bull, Cigar, Skip Away, Ghostzapper, Curlin and Rachel Alexandra.
[4] Kelso, the only five-time Horse of the Year in American history, won three consecutive renewals of the race between 1961 and 1963.
The two battled the entire length of the stretch and were separated at the wire by less than an inch: Gun Bow won by the bob of his head.
[5] In 1973, Secretariat lost the Woodward to Prove Out, who set a stakes record for the then-current distance of 1+1⁄2 miles.