Inscription on the bronze table below the sculpture:
Woody Stephens and Forty Niner
Born Woodford Cefis Stephens in Powell County near Stanton on Sept. 1, 1913. Woody rose to become one of the most talked about, most honored, and winningest race horse trainer’s in thoroughbred history. Major events in Woody’s life; voted into the Hall of Fame 1976, trained six eclipse award winners 1979-1984, only trainer to win five consecutive Belmont Stakes 1982-1986, winner of two Kentucky Derbies 1974-1984, winner of five Kentucky Oaks 1959-60-63-78-81, winner of Preakness 1952.
This sculpture sponsored by: Powell Countians; Bob Ovington, Joe Bowen, Forest Meadows; Race Horse Owners; Seth Hancock, Mrs. Elizabeth Moran, Henry De Kwiatkowski, Bob Kirkham, Jim Ryan, August Belmont, Russell Reineman, Jeannie Unruh, Corporations; Claiborne Farm, Bob’s Food Service
FROM WIKIPEDIA
"Woody Stephens (September 1, 1913 – August 22, 1998) was an American Thoroughbred horse racing Hall of Fame trainer.
Born Woodford Cefis Stephens in Stanton, Kentucky, he had a younger brother named William Ward Stephens who also became a successful trainer. Woody Stephens started in racing as a jockey at age 16 but within a few years switched to training horses. After working as an assistant for several years, in the late 1930s he started training on his own, taking on horses from various owners. Near the end of the 1950s, he was hired by the wealthy Harry Guggenheim as head trainer for his Cain Hoy Stable. The move proved very successful, with Stephens training several champions and winning a number of major stakes races, including the Kentucky Oaks three times. He remained with the Guggenheim operation for ten years before returning to run his own stable again in 1966.
In a career that spanned seven decades, Stephens trained eleven Eclipse Award winners, and his horses won over a hundred Grade 1 stakes races. Among his most notable horses was Henryk de Kwiatkowski's colt Conquistador Cielo, the winner of the 1982 Eclipse Award for Horse of the Year. Although Stephens trained horses that won the Kentucky Oaks for fillies five times, plus the Kentucky Derby twice and the Preakness Stakes once, he is most remembered for winning an unprecedented five straight Belmont Stakes from 1982 to 1986.
Stephens was elected to the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame in 1976. In 1983, he won the Eclipse Award as the top trainer in the United States. Although he often wore rumpled clothes, his earnings from racing plus investments in successful breeding stock made him a very wealthy man. In 1985 Doubleday published Guess I'm Lucky, an autobiography he wrote with James Brough."
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