Megacity Could Cap Rewarding Monmouth Meet for Stephens
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Photo: Joe DiOrio
John Stephens
Even if Megacity delivers the first graded stakes victory of John Stephens' lengthy career in the $150,000 Monmouth Stakes (G3T) at Monmouth Park Oct. 10, it won't have quite the same impact that it might for other trainers.
Win or lose, Stephens will stick to the routine that has served him well since the early 1990s. Once Monmouth Park closes Oct. 24, he will return home to his 110-acre farm in Morriston, Fla., where he and his wife will break horses and sell 2-year-olds until Monmouth reopens.
It has been that way for as long as Stephens can remember: summers based at Monmouth, winters spent on the farm in Florida.
One memorable winter, Stephens and his wife, Dr. Jill Stephens, counted a youngster named Barbaro as one of the horses they broke. Barbaro went on to win the 2006 Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Brands (G1) before suffering a tragic injury in the Preakness Stakes (G1).
"I don't have to chase this year-round the way a lot of others do, so I'm fortunate that way," Stephens said. "My main business is breaking young horses and selling 2-year-olds. The training stuff I get to do for fun."
Stephens has Megacity, a 5-year-old City Zip gelding he owns, on a bit of a form spree of late with three consecutive second-place finishes. That includes his most recent start, the Red Bank Stakes (G3T) at Monmouth Park Sept. 5 at odds of 37-1.
Though the Monmouth Stakes distance "is further than I'd like him to go," Stephens is hopeful Megacity will back up his most recent effort with another strong showing. He is a 10-1 chance on the morning line.
"To me, it's always about the horse," Stephens said. "It doesn't matter to me if it's a $5,000 claimer or a stakes horse, as long as they are trying for you. I've won $2,500 races at Penn National and I was excited. To me, it's about each individual horse. It isn't about me winning a graded stakes. I would be happy for this horse to win a graded stakes because he always tries."
Stephens, who generally brings 15 horses to Monmouth Park each racing season, has a 5-11-7 record this year from 63 starters. After having just 40 combined starters from 2000-15 as he focused more on the farm, Stephens has 232 starters combined the past three years, winning 28 races. He has had 434 career starters.
Stephens said his wife "breaks all of the babies" on their Stephens Thoroughbred Farm just outside of Ocala, Fla.
"Once she gets them going, I take over from there (selling them)," he said.
It is a formula that has served the pair well.
"I like the break. I like (it) when I go home, then I like it when we come back to Monmouth Park," said Stephens, who has 52 career wins, including a career-best 12 in 2018.
Megacity, Stephens' highest-earning horse at $105,340, will face eight rivals in the Monmouth Stakes, including two trained by Chad Brown. One of those Brown trainees is Shadwell Stable's grade 1 winner Almanaar, away since winning the Monmouth Stakes in May 2019.
Monmouth Park, Saturday, October 10, 2020, Race 8Entries: Monmouth S. (G3T)
PP
Horse
Jockey
Wgt
Trainer
M/L
1
1Serve the King (GB)
Antonio A. Gallardo
118
Chad C. Brown
7/2
2
2Megacity (KY)
Nik Juarez
118
John D. Stephens
10/1
3
3Compound It (KY)
Christopher P. DeCarlo
118
Jorge Duarte, Jr.
12/1
4
4Almanaar (GB)
Joe Bravo
118
Chad C. Brown
8/5
5
5Changi (LA)
Ferrin Peterson
118
Jeanne Marie Dolan
30/1
6
6Mr. Alec (KY)
Paco Lopez
120
Christophe Clement
5/2
7
7Sand Dancer (KY)
Romero Ramsay Maragh
118
Timothy A. Hills
20/1
8
8Bal Harbour (KY)
Jose C. Ferrer
118
Gregory D. Sacco
6/1
9
9Fearsome (GB)
Wilmer A. Garcia
118
Cyril Murphy
30/1
10
10Monongahela (PA)
UNKNOWN
118
Brittany Russell
5/1
