Lung Disease Claims Life of Stephens

Woody Stephens, a Hall of Fame trainer whose most famous accomplishment was winning an unprecedented five consecutive Belmont Stakes from 1982-86, died early Saturday morning at Heartland Health Center in Miami Lakes, Fla. He was 10 days shy of his 85th birthday.

Beset by health problems throughout the latter years of his life, Stephens died from complications of chronic emphysema. Since 1990, after undergoing heart-bypass surgery, he always had an oxygen tank with him because of his emphysema.

Although he had been almost completely inactive in recent years, Stephens didn’t officially retire from training until last September.

“Churchill Downs and racing lost a great friend and a great horseman,” said Tom Meeker, president and chief executive of Churchill Downs. “Woody was the classic American success story. He came from humble beginnings and rose to the very top of his profession. For years, Woody was the measure of success for a trainer.”

Born Woodford Cefis Stephens on Sept. 1, 1913, in Stanton, Ky., Stephens was inducted into racing’s Hall of Fame in 1976 and his record of success in the Belmont is one that is almost certain never to be matched.

Beginning with Conquistador Cielo, who won the 1982 Belmont by 14 lengths only five days after he won the Metropolitan Mile and was later voted Horse of the Year, the man who first started working with horses when he broke yearlings at 13 owned the final jewel of the Triple Crown.

Despite bouncing off the rail at one point when starting to rally under Laffit Pincay Jr., Caveat followed with a 3 1/2-length win in 1983 as the 5-2 second choice.

Pincay, who also had ridden Conquistador Cielo, made it three consecutive wins in the 1 1/2-mile race the following year with the ill-fated Swale. The winner of the Kentucky Derby about a month earlier, Swale died eight days after his Belmont success.

Stephens’ Belmont hat trick equaled the feat of two trainers--Col. David McDaniel and Frank McCabe, who each won three in a row before 1900. In this decade, Wayne Lukas won three Belmonts in succession with Tabasco Cat, Thunder Gulch and Editor’s Note from 1994-96, but he didn’t have a starter in the 1997 renewal.

However, Stephens wasn’t done yet. He not only won the race with mud freak Creme Fraiche in 1985, but finished second with Stephan’s Odyssey, who was ridden by Pincay.

Finally, in 1986, on another sloppy track, he won the race for the final time, and again, with another California-based rider. Chris McCarron was aboard when Danzig Connection beat a field that included Kentucky Derby winner Ferdinand. Afterward, a large crowd of fans surrounded the winner’s circle and began chanting, “Woody, Woody, Woody,” a fact McCarron, who also won the 1988 Travers aboard Forty Niner for Stephens, remembers well.”

“It was awesome,” he said between races at Del Mar on Saturday. “It was an unbelievable experience. What I’m going to remember about him is that racing was better because of him. He was a boon to our sport.

“He had helped my brother Gregg out when he was struggling, and Gregg always told me what a class guy he was. I didn’t ride for him that much, but when I did I found out Gregg was exactly right.”

All told, Stephens trained 11 Eclipse award winners, was voted an Eclipse himself as the nation’s top trainer in 1983 and, 10 years before Swale’s victory, won the 100th Kentucky Derby with Cannonade. This win came 22 years after he won his first Triple Crown race when Blue Man won the 1952 Preakness.

He raced very sparingly in California, but did win a division of the 1981 Hollywood Derby with De La Rose, the 1984 Hollywood Futurity with Stephan’s Odyssey and the 1984 Yellow Ribbon with Sabin.

“Woody was one of the most renowned trainers in the United States and one of the most respected horsemen in thoroughbred racing,” said Kenny Noe, New York Racing Assn. chairman. “His accomplishments, especially the five Belmonts, I don’t believe will ever be exceeded.”

Stephens certainly wouldn’t have argued that fact. He was always quick to point out that feat and apparently never was hesitant to correct anyone if they were wrong about any of his career statistics.

“I’m so proud of the five Belmonts,” he once said. “In all these years, no one has won five, much less five in a row.

“I’ve been lucky. I guess I’ve had about as many good horses in my hands as any man.”

When pressed several years ago to name the best horse he ever trained, Stephens didn’t narrow it down to one. “I’m going to put Devil’s Bag, Conquistador Cielo and Bald Eagle and I’ll tell you why,” he said. “Bald Eagle is the only horse to win [the Washington D.C] Internationals back to back [in 1959-60].

“What a 2-year-old Devil’s Bag was. He never got beat and he never had a whip turned up on him as a 2-year-old. He was unbelievable. I feel he was possibly the best 2-year-old I’ve ever trained, and you know I’ve had a lot of good ones. Conquistador, of course, won seven in a row.”

Before turning to training, Stephens was a jockey. He won his first race for trainer John Ward on Directly at Hialeah in 1931, and it was Ward, who four years later, told him he should think about a change in careers.

“I rode a horse for him one day in Chicago and I came back to the stable and he said, ‘Woody, if you have a future in racing, it’ll be in training--not riding--and I’ll help you if you want me to.’

“So, I stayed with him and, for some reason, he was determined to see that I made it. My biggest regret is that I never learned to be a better rider.”

After five years as an assistant, he went out on his own in 1940 and earned his first win at Keeneland with Bronze Bugle. His initial stakes success came when Saguaro won the Excelsior Handicap at Aqueduct in 1945.

Survived by Lucille, his wife of almost 61 years, Stephens did consider retiring in 1984, a year in which Swale died, Devil’s Bag was prematurely retired because of a knee injury, and he himself had to battle emphysema, pleurisy and a severe case of pneumonia.

However, he quickly changed his mind. “You’ve got to have something to get up in the morning for,” he said. “What else am I going to do?”

Funeral services will be held Wednesday in Lexington, Ky. In lieu of flowers, Stephens’ family has requested that donations be made to the Emphysema Foundation.

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Barn Storming

Highlights in the career of trainer Woody Stephens, who died Saturday:

* Won Kentucky Derby with Cannonade (1974) and Swale (1984).

* Won Preakness Stakes with Blue Man (1952).

* Won unprecedented five consecutive Belmont Stakes with Conquistador Cielo (1982), Caveat (1983), Swale (1984), Creme Fraiche (1985) and Danzig Connection (1986).

* Inducted to thoroughbred racing Hall of Fame in 1976.

* Won Eclipse award as trainer of the year in 1983.

* Trained 11 Eclipse award-winning horses.