Nobody Is Likely to Get Even With Stephens

In the early 1980s, when trainer Woody Stephens collected Belmont victories as though they were hanging from trees, the exceptional thing was that he sometimes won the Triple Crown’s windup race with his second string. Only one of Stephens’ five consecutive Belmont Stakes winners, Swale, was favored.

The last of those victories was 15 years ago, when Danzig Connection, a horse no jockey seemed willing to ride, marched off with the 1 1/2-mile marathon. Only two trainers--both from the horse-and-buggy era of the 19th century--had won the Belmont as many as three times in a row before Stephens, and only one--Wayne Lukas in the 1990s--has won three in a row A.W. (after Woody).

Stephens, who was 84 when he died in 1998, wasn’t averse to beating his drum, but shortly after Danzig Connection had crossed the finish line, he took a belt of his favorite scotch and justifiably said, “This is something that’s going to last for a while.”

Most trainers would consider themselves fortunate if they even started horses in the Belmont for five consecutive years. Lukas, the king of the Belmont A.W., has won it four times overall, the first time in 1994, but despite having had 15 starters since his first in 1980, he never has been represented in the Belmont more than three consecutive years.

When longshot Buckle Down Ben gets into the gate Saturday for the 133rd Belmont, Lukas finally will have a starter for the fourth year in a row. He’s also trying to patch together Belmont victories again, Commendable having scored for the Lukas barn last year.

Stephens, a Kentucky hardboot, left home for New York in 1944 when he was 30. He already was famous by the time his Belmont streak started in 1982. He scored the first of his two Kentucky Derby victories, with Cannonade in 1974, and he also had trained four champions by 1976, the year he was elected to the Racing Hall of Fame in Saratoga Springs, N.Y.

But for a New York trainer with a perennially strong Belmont Park stable, Stephens had only one Belmont Stakes horse before Conquistador Cielo came along in 1982. Until then, Stephens wasn’t even a Belmont afterthought; his only appearance had been with Cannonade, who finished third, more than seven lengths behind Little Current, in 1974.

Nick Zito can relate to the unusual void that marred Stephens’ early resume. A prominent New York trainer and future Hall of Famer who saddled his first winner in 1972, Zito will take his 11th shot at the Belmont when he runs A P Valentine on Saturday.

A Colt-Come-Lately

In 1982, Stephens was navigating Conquistador Cielo through the allowance ranks in Florida, Maryland and New York while Gato Del Sol delivered a shocking victory in the Derby and Aloma’s Ruler upset favored Linkage in the Preakness.

Only five days before the Belmont, Conquistador Cielo blew the doors off 13 other horses in the Metropolitan Handicap, winning the mile race by 7 1/4 lengths in a corking 1:33. While Stephens talked about wheeling his colt back in the Belmont, most people figured his euphoria would burn off.

But in the few days that Conquistador had before the Belmont, Stephens jogged him the wrong way--clockwise--during morning training and liked what he saw. Conquistador Cielo would carry 15 extra pounds--for a total of 126--in the Belmont, but he would be at even weights with Gato Del Sol, who had skipped the Preakness, and Aloma’s Ruler.

By entry time, two days before the Belmont, the forecast was for heavy rain, and Stephens, relishing the chance to run on an off-track, dropped Conquistador Cielo’s name into the box.

The day before the race, Eddie Maple, Conquistador Cielo’s regular jockey, went down at Belmont, cracking a couple of ribs and puncturing a lung. Stephens and Laffit Pincay went way back, so Stephens called the Hollywood Park jockeys’ room to get a replacement for Maple. Pincay caught the red-eye to New York, hopped on Conquistador Cielo for the first time and they splashed their way to an easy victory. Gato Del Sol finished second, 14 lengths back.

Conquistador Cielo went on to become Stephens’ most celebrated Belmont winner. Although he won only two more races, and in the so-called Travers showdown, Conquistador Cielo, Gato Del Sol and Aloma’s Ruler were all defeated by Runaway Groom at Saratoga, the son of Mr. Prospector was voted horse of the year. After the Travers--Conquistador Cielo’s last race--he was syndicated as a stallion for a record $36 million.

Pincay for Maple Redux

A son of Cannonade, Caveat lost the first six starts of his 3-year-old season, and by Kentucky Derby time Stephens and Maple, his main man, had decided that Chumming, a $1-million yearling, was the barn’s best shot at Churchill Downs. Chumming ran 12th, was injured and never raced again.

Pincay took over on Caveat for a third-place finish, behind Sunny’s Halo and Desert Wine, and after skipping the Preakness, Stephens retained the California rider for the Belmont.

Deputed Testamony, the Preakness winner, ran back in the Belmont, but Slew o’ Gold and Caveat were the first two betting choices. Stephens, who never lost his Kentucky twang, couldn’t quite master the pronunciation of his colt’s name. “Ka-VEET” was the closest he would ever come, but he had the colt trained to the minute for the Belmont and got a daredevil ride from Pincay.

Leaving the far turn, Pincay needed to wedge Caveat between horses and bounced off another horse, Au Point, and ricocheted into the rail. A poor balancing act might have sent horse and jockey to the ground, but Caveat quickly regained his stride and won by 3 1/2 lengths.

“How much the best was my horse?” Stephens crowed. “He took about 10 feet of paint off the rail at the quarter pole and still won by plenty.”

Eddie Maple finished eighth on a horse named Princilian.

Swale’s Swan Song

As a 2-year-old, Devil’s Bag won all five of his starts, by three lengths or more and was voted an Eclipse Award. His path never crossed with Swale, the stable’s less-ballyhooed colt and a horse who had to work much harder for his five juvenile victories.

With such a schedule, Maple was able to ride both horses, but because Stephens envisioned running both in the Kentucky Derby, he kept Maple on the bench to introduce Pincay to Swale in the Florida Derby, which they won by three-quarters of a length.

Meantime, Stephens found it hard to conceal that Devil’s Bag was having physical problems. He ran fourth at 3-10 in the Flamingo, dusted four marshmallow opponents in a Keeneland allowance race and then lugged out badly--a sign of hurting--while winning the Derby Trial.

A couple of days later, with Devil’s Bag on the verge of pneumonia, Stephens announced the horse’s retirement. Swale won the Derby, but ran seventh two weeks later as Gate Dancer won the Preakness.

“He should have won the Preakness,” Stephens said of Swale. “But he worked seven furlongs in 1:24 just before the race and that was just too fast.”

Swale redeemed himself with a four-length victory in the Belmont, giving Stephens and Pincay three in a row.

Eight days later, Stephens was sitting in his Mercedes next to the barn, reading the Sunday papers.

“They started yelling that something was wrong,” Stephens said. “Swale had reared up, and he was probably dead by the time he hit the ground. No one could believe it. [Investigators] took the place apart and they ran all kinds of tests on the horse, but they couldn’t come up with anything. The best guess anyone had was that he had an aneurysm, but no one ever knew for sure.”

The Old 1-2

Stephens won the Preakness in 1952 with Blue Man, but he never cared much for the Pimlico race. With two promising 3-year-olds in 1985, he skipped the middle leg of the Triple Crown, saving Stephan’s Odyssey and Creme Fraiche for what had become the trainer’s signature race.

Stephan’s Odyssey had been second to Spend A Buck in the Derby. Spend A Buck, who had defeated Creme Fraiche by a neck in the Jersey Derby, was not up to the 1 1/2 miles in the Belmont.

Stephens had gelded the intractable Creme Fraiche, not telling his owner, Elizabeth Moran, until after the horse had won a race. Stephan’s Odyssey was owned by Henryk de Kwiatkowski, who had raced Conquistador Cielo. The Belmont came up muddy, which was Creme Fraiche’s game, and Maple was on the right horse for once, Creme Fraiche defeating his stablemate by half a length.

Had Stephan’s Odyssey won, Stephens would have been given a lifetime breeding right.

“It figured that the gelding would win,” Stephens said. “But I’m happy for Eddie. He finally won a Belmont for me.”

No. 5, Then a Hat Trick

Ferdinand went into the 1986 Belmont with a victory in the Derby and a second to Snow Chief in the Preakness, but Stephens twitted his good friend, trainer Charlie Whittingham.

“Tell Charlie that the buildings get pretty tall when you cross the Hudson,” Stephens said.

Stephens’ Belmont contender, owned by de Kwiatkowski, was Danzig Connection, who had been winless as a 3-year-old until his victory in the Peter Pan two weeks before the Belmont. Pat Day rode the colt that day, but told Stephens that he was locked in with Rampage in the Belmont.

Stephens had expected Pincay’s agent, Tony Matos, to call about Danzig Connection, but Matos and his jockey preferred Johns Treasure. That was actually the horse Chris McCarron wanted to ride, but he settled for Danzig Connection.

McCarron was winless in the Triple Crown: six Derbies, four Preaknesses and a Belmont. Danzig Connection, at 8-1 the best price of any of Stephens’ Belmont winners, defeated Johns Treasure in the mud by 1 1/4 lengths and Ferdinand ran third.

“Wood-E! Wood-E! Wood-E!” came the chant from the crowd. Stephens took his fedora and sailed it in the direction of the spectators.

A tradition at Esposito’s, the bar across the street from the track, was to paint the white picket fence in front with the colors of the winning Belmont Stakes owner. At 6 a.m. the day after Danzig Connection’s victory, proprietor John Esposito heard someone honking the horn outside the bar.

“I looked out and saw Woody,” Esposito said. “He wanted to know why we hadn’t painted the fence yet.”

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Belmont Facts

* What: The 133rd Belmont Stakes

* Where: Belmont Park, Elmont, N.Y.

* When: Saturday

* Distance: 1 1/2 miles

* Purse: $1 million

* Post Time: 3 p.m. PDT

* TV: Channel 4, 2 p.m.

* Stakes Record: 2:24 by Secretariat, 1973