{{short description|American racehorse trainer}} {{Infobox horseracing personality |name = William Ward Stephens |image = |caption = |occupation = Trainer |birth_place = Stanton, Kentucky, U.S. |birth_date = {{Birth date|1922|11|21}} |death_date = {{Death date and age|1987|07|10|1922|12|22}} |death_place = New York City, New York, U.S. |career wins = |race = Daingerfield Handicap (1951)<br>Roseben Handicap (1951)<br>New Rochelle Handicap (1952)<br>Arlington Classic (1957)<br>Withers Stakes (1957)<br>Shevlin Stakes (1957)<br>Washington Park Handicap (1958)<br>United Nations Handicap (1958)<br>Woodward Stakes (1958)<br>Palm Beach Handicap (1959)<br>World's Playground Stakes (1961)<br>Lamplighter Handicap (1962)<br>Rumson Handicap (1962)<br>Select Handicap (1962)<br>Suffolk Downs Stakes (1962)<br>Swift Stakes (1962)<br>Futurity Stakes (1967)<br>Bed O' Roses Handicap (1968)<br>Barbara Fritchie Handicap (1968, 1969)<br>Forerunner Purse (1968)<br>Stepping Stone Purse (1968)<br>Jim Dandy Stakes (1968) |awards = |honours = |horses = Captain's Gig, Clem, Delegate }}
'''William Ward "Bill" Stephens''' (November 21, 1922 – July 10, 1987) was an American Thoroughbred horse racing trainer. A younger brother to U.S. Racing Hall of Fame trainer, Woody Stephens, he was often referred to as "Bill" by the media.
Stephens began his career in racing as his brother's assistant at Royce Martin's Woodvale Farm in Kentucky. However, his career was interrupted during World War II when he served overseas with the United States Army. <ref>{{Cite web |url=https://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/newsday/access/104582659.html?dids=104582659:104582659&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&type=current&date=Jul+12%2C+1987&author=Combined+News+Services&pub=Newsday+(Combined+editions)&desc=Waquoit+Wins+Michigan+Mile&pqatl=google |title=''Newsday'' - July 12, 1987 |access-date=July 7, 2017 |archive-date=November 2, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121102181347/http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/newsday/access/104582659.html?dids=104582659:104582659&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&type=current&date=Jul+12,+1987&author=Combined+News+Services&pub=Newsday+(Combined+editions)&desc=Waquoit+Wins+Michigan+Mile&pqatl=google |url-status=dead }}</ref> He resumed his career in racing at war's end and in 1950 succeeded John Nerud as head trainer for Herbert Woolf's Woolford Farm. In 1951 he saddled his first stakes race winner, when Champion Sprinter of 1949 Delegate won the Roseben Handicap at New York City's Belmont Park. <ref>[https://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=FB0A11FE3855177B93C5A9178DD85F458585F9 ''New York Times'' - June 7, 1951]</ref>
Bill Stephens went on to train for the stable owned by Adele L. Rand. For Mrs. Rand, he most notably conditioned Clem whose important wins included three straight over future Hall of Fame inductee, Round Table.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=ZK0yAAAAIBAJ&sjid=teoFAAAAIBAJ&pg=1570,2447480&dq=adele+rand&hl=en |title=''Miami News - February 5, 1959'' |access-date=October 9, 2016 |archive-date=May 6, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200506002747/https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=ZK0yAAAAIBAJ&sjid=teoFAAAAIBAJ&pg=1570,2447480&dq=adele+rand&hl=en |url-status=dead }}</ref> Clem did it first in the September 1, 1958 Washington Park Handicap while setting a new track record time.<ref>[https://www.nytimes.com/1958/09/02/archives/clem-is-first-in-139650-handicap-round-table-is-2d-as-record-is-set.html ''New York Times'' - September 2, 1958]</ref> The colt was then shipped all the way to the East Coast of the United States to the Atlantic City Race Course where on September 13 he set another new track record for a mile and three sixteenths on turf in winning the United Nations Handicap while again defeating Round Table.<ref>[https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=bHYmAAAAIBAJ&sjid=PgAGAAAAIBAJ&pg=3258,1364284&dq=united+nations+handicap+clem&hl=en Bridgeport, Connecticut ''Sunday Herald'' - September 14, 1958]</ref> Clem then beat Round Table for the third time in a row on September 27 in the Woodward Stakes.<ref>[https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=7fwyAAAAIBAJ&sjid=iDwDAAAAIBAJ&pg=1423,1310436&dq=woodward+stakes+clem&hl=en ''Ludington Daily News'' (Michigan) - September 29, 1958]{{Dead link|date=October 2025 |bot=InternetArchiveBot }}</ref>
In the latter part of the 1960s, Bill Stephens took over from his brother as the trainer for Harry Guggenheim's Cain Hoy Stable. Among his successful Cain Hoy runners was the 1967 Futurity Stakes winner Captain's Gig who set a new Aqueduct track record.<ref>[https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=McktAAAAIBAJ&sjid=B6AFAAAAIBAJ&pg=6145,4198269&dq=captain's+gig+futurity+bill&hl=en ''Reading Eagle'' (Pennsylvania)- September 24, 1967]</ref> In 1958, en route to the Kentucky Derby the lightly raced colt won the Forerunner Purse at Keeneland then the Stepping Stone Purse at Churchill Downs.
Retired from racing, Bill Stephens was living in Franklin Square, New York when he died at age sixty-four of lung cancer at the Veterans Administration Hospital in Brooklyn, New York <ref>[http://nl.newsbank.com/nl-search/we/Archives?p_product=MH&s_site=miami&p_multi=MH&p_theme=realcities&p_action=search&p_maxdocs=200&p_topdoc=1&p_text_direct-0=0EB367945B0C1BE5&p_field_direct-0=document_id&p_perpage=10&p_sort=YMD_date:D&s_trackval=GooglePM ''Miami Herald'' - July 13, 1987]</ref>
==References== {{reflist}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Stephens, William Ward}} Category:1922 births Category:1987 deaths Category:United States Army personnel of World War II Category:Deaths from lung cancer in New York (state) Category:American racehorse trainers Category:People from Stanton, Kentucky Category:People from Franklin Square, New York