Catching Up With Stevie Wonderboy

Stevie Wonderboy after winning the 2005 Breeders' Cup Juvenile under jockey Garrett Gomez. (All photos by Horsephotos.com)
After running into What a Song in his first two starts, Stevie Wonderboy took three tries to earn his first career victory, but when he did, he did it in style.
The Stephen Got Even colt romped home four lengths in front of the runner-up then came back almost exactly a month later to win the Grade 2 Del Mar Futurity by five lengths over The Pharaoh. The two wins convinced trainer Doug O’Neill to send Stevie Wonderboy to the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile, held across the country at Belmont Park, for his first start going farther than seven furlongs.
Stevie Wonderboy went off as the second favorite behind First Samurai, who came into the Juvenile with an undefeated record that included two Grade 1 wins.
Stevie Wonderboy and First Samurai raced close to each other during the early part of the race with Stevie Wonderboy only having two horses beaten and First Samurai three horses in front of him with most of the field bunched together. Only about eight lengths separated the whole field in the first half-mile.
As they entered the stretch, Stevie Wonderboy had made his way through most of the field and was right behind the leaders, with Henny Hughes trying to hold off First Samurai. It took Stevie Wonderboy most of the stretch to switch into gear but in the final furlong he surged past Henny Hughes to win by 1 ¼ lengths and clinch the 2-year-old championship.
            2005 BREEDERS’ CUP JUVENILE

Video courtesy of Breeders’ Cup World Championships
Owned by entertainer Merv Griffin, Stevie Wonderboy was named for singer Stevie Wonder and the win ranked high on Griffin’s list of favorite moments.
“There’s the Emmys, and all that stuff in television,” Griffin told the New York Times. “Then there’s fighting with Donald Trump, that’s fine. But this is extraordinary.”
In the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile, Stevie Wonderboy beat nine graded stakes winners including four Grade 1 winners with every horse in the race at least placed at the graded stakes level.
The following year, Stevie Wonderboy ran in the Jan. 14 San Rafael Stakes but was beaten by 1 ½ lengths by Brother Derek, who had finished fourth in the Juvenile.
The San Rafael was Stevie Wonderboy’s final start, although connections spent a year and a half trying to get him back into the gate with the horse putting in workouts in both the latter part of 2006 and 2007. In June 2007, it was announced that Stevie Wonderboy was retired and sent to Airdrie Stud.
“We couldn't be more excited to be bringing Stevie Wonderboy into the stallion barn,” Bret Jones of Airdrie told the Blood-Horse. “He did exactly what a champion is supposed to do: beat the best on both sides of the country. I really believe the juvenile field he beat, with Henny Hughes and First Samurai, was as strong as any in recent memory, and he was really getting away from them at the end. It’s just a shame we never got to see him in the classics. As brilliant as he was at 2, he was absolutely tailor-made for the Triple Crown trail.”
Stevie Wonderboy retired with three wins in six starts for $1,058,940 in earnings. His first foals were born in 2009 with three of his top horses to date coming from that crop, including Remington Oaks winner Sticks Wondergirl.
Shuttling to Chile for the first time in 2009, Stevie Wonderboy was a big hit in the country with many from that first crop winning or placing in stakes races.
In 2013, Stevie Wonderboy relocated to Don Alberto in Chile full time, where he still resides. As of July 29, 2015 Stevie Wonderboy has eight stakes winners and 137 winners from 201 starters for more than $4.9 million in progeny earnings.
STEVIE WONDERBOY WINNING JUVENILE