Ellie Wood Page Keith Baxter, the winner of the 1936 ASPCA Maclay Finals, died Monday at the age of 101.
An active fox hunter who also starred with hunters in the show ring, the Virginian was inducted into the National Show Hunter Hall of Fame in 2000. While she won many championships, perhaps the one for which she is best remembered is the Maclay.
She was victorious on Big Tip, of whom she said, “Of course he was a Thoroughbred. We didn’t ride anything but Thoroughbreds.”
Her mother, Big Elliewood, had a yard full of ponies and children at Keithwood, where students from the nearby University of Virginia in Charlottesville would come to ride. Her father was one of the original whippers-in of the Farmington hunt, and hunting was as important as showing for her family.
The horsewoman’s ability was legend. During the 1940s and ’50s to the mid-1960s, she found herself much in demand to ride in ladies’ and amateur classes. The horses on which she competed included Substitution, Spanish Mist, Escapade and Adventure.
She and her late husband owned The Barracks, a farm in Charlottesville that was purchased in 1973 by Claiborne Bishop and her husband, Tom, a former Master of Fox Hounds. Claiborne (who was three years old when she began riding with Big Elliewood at Keithwood), said Ellie Wood was “still as sharp as a tack” past her 100th birthday, which she celebrated at the Upperville Colt and Horse Show. Last week, she wanted to know what happened at the Devon Horse Show, and asked Tom for a report on that competition.
She stopped by the barn once a week, and kept up the high standards that were her trademark.
“She stamped all of us who rode with her,” said Tom, noting she would come out with the hunt following a double-hip replacement even when she was in her late 90s..
“She rode beautifully and expected a lot from you, but she was supportive.”
Claiborne added, “She had a following.”
Although riding wasn’t the only pastime at which Ellie Wood excelled–she also was an avid dancer and tennis player–her classic style and bravery over fences were what made her a much-admired figure in the horse world.
In 2022, she was awarded the National Show Hunter Hall of Fame’s Founders Cup for Excellence, joining William Steinkraus as one of only two recipients thus far.
In a statement, the Hall said, “Ellie Wood was an inspiration to many riders, young and old, in the hunting field as well as in the show ring. She was one of a kind and a lady of the highest order. Thanks, Ellie Wood, for showing us the right way to conduct ourselves in and out of the show ring. We are eternally grateful.”
She is survived by her son, Charlie; her brother, Tommy Keith and sister-in-law Sue Keith, as well as two grandchildren. Arrangements are pending.
