Pedigree

                                                                      Generous
                                        Courteous
                                                                      Dayanata
Tomahawk Wood
2009 chestnut gelding
                                                                      Master Willie
                                        Meda's Song
                                                                      Cala Conta

The family

Tomahawk Wood is the first (and sadly, the only) produce of the well bred mare Meda's Song. A few months after giving birth, Meda's Song contracted a bad bout of colic and couldn't be saved.
Meda's Song was also in training for a couple of seasons here at Dodlands, and she showed a great deal of pace on the home gallops. Unfortunately, this was never really repeated that on the racecourse, and her best effort came when finishing 4th in a Musselburgh bumper.

She did have a couple of siblings who showed winning form over jumps in the useful Warner for Winners (8 wins) and the fair hurdler/chaser Point Made (also an 8 time winner).

About the sire

Courteous (b 1995), a bay son of Generous was trained like his sire by Paul Cole. He was campaigned from 2 - 6 years, winning over 1 mile as a 2yr-old, a Group 3 contest over 10 furlongs in the soft at Sandown at 3 and the mile and a half Grand Prix de Deauville (Group 2) on good ground during his third season in training.
He travelled the globe in search of winning opportunities, and perhaps his best effort came when 3rd in the Canadian International at Woodbine as a 4yr-old.

Courteous stood at Ancrum Lodge Stud near Bishop Auckland in County Durham (the successful Minster Son also stood here for his stud career until his death in 2006). From limited opportunities, Courteous has sired a handful of winners to date, the best of which is the winning flat and hurdles performer Cortesia.

Form Summary

When owner-breeder Allan Gilchrist lost his very successful broodmare Youandi (dam to Harry Flashman et al) in foal to Golan at the time, Donald offered Allan the recently retired racemare Meda's Song as a replacement. Allan took up the offer and sent the mare down the road to a stud he knew well, in Ancrum Lodge (Minster Son - sire of the aforementioned Harry Flashman - had stood there for a number of years). Courteous stood there as a dual purpose sire at the time and Tomahawk Wood was the result of that mating.
Tomahawk Wood did do well arriving back in the yard from summer grass in the following Autumn (2012), improving immensely in looks and going about his work in the morning with enthusiasm.
In February 2013, we sent him up to Musselburgh for a post race gallop in which he showed enough promise for us to mark him down as having a bright future. We say 'gallop' but this was a full blown 10 runner bumper in which a couple of the unraced sorts soon afterwards went on to win!
Anyway, we gave our promising gelding a couple of bumper runs in the Spring of 2013, and he showed up well albeit appearing slightly weak. However, he'd clearly strengthened during the following season and ran a couple of promising races in novice hurdles finishing a fine 2nd at Newcastle on debut in November 2014.
So, onto handicap hurdling in the 2015-16 season with a BHA rating of OR97 which was a bit high based purely on what he had achieved on the race track. He was also at that point a bit too free-going for a stayer and Tomahawk Wood's performances baffled us for most of that season, as he would travel so well in his race only to weaken quickly round about the second last. But it all came good for connections near and far, at Newcastle in April '16, under an exemplary ride from Callum, 'Chuckie' won impressively in a handicap hurdle over 2m 4f on soft ground.
Last season (2016-17) started with a novice chase, but he got a wee fright at the first and that run is best forgotten. But it was a different story back over hurdles at Ayr in January, travelling with confidence to win impressively. He had an interrupted regime from there on, and wasn't at his best in his final two runs of the season.
Still not many miles on the clock, and there is so much more that this gelding has to offer, lets hope for a season uninterrupted by 'issues and niggles'.

Season		win	2nd	3rd	4th	other
2012-13	NH Flat					1
2013-14	NH Flat					1
2014-15	hurdles		1			2
2015-16	hurdles	1				4
2016-17	hurdles	1				2
2016-17	chase					1
2017-18	hurdles			2		2
2018-19	hurdles					1

Current Season Form

7 May 18 Ayr : 2m 5½f hdcp hurdle (Class 5 0-100) OR 92 good 19 ran (C Whillans (3)) - pulled up

Started slowly, always in rear, tailed off when pulled up before 3 out

Tomahawk Wood has run well here before but didn't seem to enjoy himself on quite a lively surface.

Previous Season Form

14 April 18 Newcastle : 2m 4½f hdcp hurdle (Class 5 0-100) OR 92 heavy 10 ran (C Whillans (3)) - 3rd (btn 9l)

In touch, headway to join leaders halfway, every chance until ridden and one pace from 2 out

Tomahawk Wood had been off the track for 3 months since his last run, and although he looked big and well in the paddock beforehand, he may just have needed this outing. We'll look for a similar race in the next few weeks.

15 January 18 Ayr : 2m 4½f hdcp hurdle (Class 5 0-100) OR 90 heavy 8 ran (C Whillans (3)) - 3rd (btn ¾l)

Close up, led after 4 out, headed and driven 3, 4th and hung left approaching last but stayed on again flat, no extra near finish.

Tomahawk Wood won this race last year off the same mark, and came very close to pulling off a repeat. By the last race the ground was very attritional but our gelding kept on bravely and only just failed, beaten 2 necks into third place. He finished lame on his off hind leg.

3 Dec 17 Carlisle : 2m 1f hdcp hurdle (Northern Lights Series Final) (Class 2 0-125) OR 94 soft 9 ran (C Whillans (3)) - 8th (btn 10l)

Led, headed when not fluent 3 out, weakened before next

Tomahawk Wood ran much better than his last outing at Hexham in the mud. 2 miles is on the sharp side for him but we gave it a go in this 'final'. He'll be stepped up to 2m 4f plus next time.

22 November 17 Hexham : 2m hdcp hurdle (Class 4 0-120) OR 95 heavy 10 ran (C Whillans (3)) - pulled up

In rear, ridden and outpaced appr 3rd, closed under pressure appr 3 out, soon weakened and behind when p.u. before last .

Not for the first time Tomahawk Wood left us baffled by a lifeless performance as he had been pleasing in his work at home. Never really letting himself down on the ground, the presence of so much mud flying around may have unnerved the gelding.