has laid out five barns, 41 paddocks, and
dirt and turf circuits extending eight and
seven furlongs respectively.
But despite the industrial scale of these
Florida operations, both individually and
collectively, the most mesmerising part of
the cycle is an intimate process: the unrav-
elling of an individual mystery, the shuf-
fling away of the chrysalis.
"It's really like a being in a big boarding
school," says Brennan. "There's all kinds of
mayhem, but every day something good is
happening. Some kids are bright, will just
ride to the top of the class quickly. Some
will be a little slower to come around. And
some are just bad asses."
"We break them in big groups and that
group will all graduate at the same stage,
from stall to shedrow to round pen to pad-
dock to track," explains Woods. "The part
I like the best is when you get them out in
the paddock, you watch them and you say:
