Stephens, Woodford Cefis

▪ 1999

      American horse trainer (b. Sept. 1, 1913, Stanton, Ky.—d. Aug. 22, 1998, Miami Lakes, Fla.), was one of the most accomplished and respected trainers in thoroughbred racing in the United States and was best known for winning the Belmont Stakes five consecutive times, beginning in 1982 with the horse Conquistador Cielo and ending in 1986 with Danzig Connection. His other Belmont winners were Caveat (1983), Swale (1984), and Creme Fraiche (1985). Throughout his seven-decade-long career in racing, Stephens developed 11 national champions, including Swale, who captured both the 1984 Kentucky Derby and the Belmont Stakes. Born the son of a sharecropper, Stephens was raised in humble circumstances in Kentucky bluegrass country. He began his career in racing by breaking yearlings when he was 13. At age 16 he was apprenticed as a jockey and moved to New York. Astride a horse named Directly, he won his first race on Jan. 15, 1931, at Hialeah Park in Hialeah, Fla. A weight gain, however, foiled his career plans, and Stephens turned from riding horses to training them. Success as a trainer was achieved in 1940 when Bronze Bugle won at Keeneland Race Course in Kentucky. Stephens's first classic winner was Blue Man, who won the Preakness Stakes in 1952. Although he had a solid reputation as a trainer and was inducted (1976) into the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame, it was not until the 1980s—when he saddled some of his best runners—that his fame skyrocketed. In 1983 he received the Eclipse Award for outstanding trainer. Although his years of success made Stephens a wealthy man, he lived for his work and did not retire until 1997.

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