The Ruth Wood Stakes, for three-year-old fillies over a mile, was a new race at Kempton’s Easter Monday meeting in 1939. It was named after Ruth Alice Hannah Mary Wood, the only daughter of the 5th Earl of Rosebery (see Rosebery Handicap). Her maternal grand-father was the 17th Lord Derby, the winner of 20 classics including three Derbys; Sansovino (1924), Hyperion (1933) and Watling Street (1942). Bred in the purple!
Ruth had married Charles Wood, son of the Earl of Halifax, in 1936 and she became a Countess when her husband inherited the earldom. They owned the 1978 Derby winner Shirley Heights, which was bred by the earl and his son.
The first running attracted some classic possibles and it was fitting that Lord Rosebery’s Sonsie Wench ran out a game winner. The second running was not until 1947, for the Kempton management had to spend over £73,000 clearing up the mess the military had left it in after the war.
The Ruth Wood race was a three-year-old maiden over a mile and a half when it was last run at Kempton on Easter Monday 1985.