Horse Racing Blog

Insight and commentary on the world of thoroughbred horse racing.

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Dead Trainers Make the Best Spokesmen

Legendary trainer Woody Stephens is back. No, he hasn’t been seen sneaking around the South with Elvis. In fact Woody remains quite dead, eight years after succumbing to emphysema.

But back in June, the Riva Ridge stakes on the Belmont Stakes Day undercard was run under its new moniker-the Woodford C. Stephens stakes. It was a fitting, long overdue tribute to the Hall of Fame trainer whose feats on Belmont Day will likely never be matched.

Now Woody is the star of a Mill Ridge Farm ad campaign for their stallion, and former Stephens trainee, Gone West. Open up a Thanksgiving weekend edition Daily Racing Form, or recent issues of The Blood-Horse and there’s ole Woody, pictured under the headline: “Woody always said he’d be a great stallion”.

It’s not uncommon for a trainer to be quoted to help generate interest in a stallion they once trained. Bobby Frankel even did a television spot in support of his Juddmonte Farm-owned grade one winner Mizzen Mast. As was the case with Mizzen Mast, though, a trainer’s superlatives are typically used during a stallion’s first few years at stud, before their progeny have the chance to prove their themselves.

So if it wasn’t strange enough seeing a trainer who passed away in 1998, in a 2007 stallion advertisement, it’s all the more curious that the stallion in question has been at stud since 1988.

Of course, I’m not complaining. Woody looks pretty good actually, aged, but still vibrant and full of vigor, with his impish smile and that clever twinkle in his eye. That’s just the way I remember him and his reincarnation as stallion pitch man sent me down memory lane.

As young racing fan growing up in New York State in the late 1980’s, it didn’t take long to become familiar with the legend of Woodford Cefis Stephens. On an early June Saturday in 1986, I attended the races for only the second time and witnessed Woody’s fifth straight Belmont Stakes win with Danzig Connection. Three years later, this 18 year-old greenhorn hotwalker almost had a more intimate encounter with the great Woody. His Mercedes and my second-hand bicycle almost collided near Union Avenue stable gate at Saratoga. That’s as close as I ever came to meeting the man, but he was a part of my adolescence the way a Mickey Mantle or Willie Mays would have been if I had been born a few decades earlier.

Seeing Woody again with Gone West also brought back a flood of memories from the 1987 racing season, a year that remains my favorite as a racing fan.

The three year-olds of ‘87 are the crop by which I’ve measured every group of sophomore colts since. Alysheba and Bet Twice staged a spirited rivalry and were supported by other good ones like Java Gold, Gulch and Polish Navy, who all beat older horses that year. Perennial bridesmaid Cryptoclearance, Lost Code, Afleet were pretty nice horses too, as was Woody’s Gone West.

I’m probably overly nostalgic about the 1987 three year olds as that year was also my first as a full-time rabid racing fan. But one thing’s for sure - the way a foal crop is measured has changed a lot in the past 20 years.

While we can only dream of a stretch run pitting Barbaro vs. Bernardini, Alysheba and Bet Twice squared off five times in 1987. While we can only dream about how a lightly raced freak named Discreet Cat would fare against Barbaro and Bernadini, Lost Code rocketed out of the Midwest and barely lost a showdown with Bet Twice and Alysheba in the Haskell.

While in recent years all we can do is compare scattered brilliant performances, back in my day, and in Woody’s day, the horses, more often than not, settled the question of who was best on the racetrack. The rest of the 1980’s also gave racing fans great battles between Seeking the Gold and Forty Niner in 1988 and the epic races between Sunday Silence and Easy Goer in ’89.

Woody, of course, was right about Gone West as a stallion. While he was a cut below the best in his crop on the track, he has gained a measure of revenge by having emerged as the most successful stallion of the bunch.
Alysheba, Bet Twice and Java Gold were all failures in their second careers. Polish Navy wasn’t much better, but did sire 1993 Kentucky Derby winner Sea Hero. Lost Code and Cryptoclearance were solid stallions, the latter the sire of Breeders’ Cup Classic winner Volponi. Afleet did good work before being exported to Japan. Gulch will enter his 19th season at Lane’s End Farm next year and he is an accomplished stallion with over 60 stakes winners to his credit, including 1995 Derby and Belmont winner Thunder Gulch. But even Gulch hasn’t had the impact that Gone West has had in the breeding shed.

Gone West has, so far, sired 84 stakes winners including three Breeders’ Cup winners-Speightstown, Johar and Da Hoss. He also has European champions Zafonic and Royal Abjar, as well as Belmont Stakes winner Commendable on his sire resume.

Gone West has cooled quite a bit in recent seasons though, no doubt prompting Woody’s return. His last five foal crops have contained only eight stakes winners and his last ‘big’ horse was Santa Anita Derby/Pacific Classic winner Came Home back in 2002. Several of Gone West’s sire sons have become successful helping keep his reputation (and his $125,000 service fee) intact. Zafonic was a solid sire in Europe before he died. In America, Elusive Quality was the Leading Sire of 2004 on the strength of Derby/Preakness winner Smarty Jones. Grand Slam and Mr. Greeley have also done good work in the states.

It remains to be seen whether or not Woody can posthumously convince any breeders to shell out $125,000 to send mare on a date with Gone West. But I, for one, am glad to have him back. It’s been good to relive the ‘old days’.

Matt O'Neil has been a racing enthusiast since the mid 1980's. He currently works for Taylor Made Stallions, Inc. in Central Kentucuky and is published regularly in Owner-Breeder International and The Florida-Horse. Contact Matt O'Neil