Editor’s Note: The following is a guest entry from Ron Mitchell, the online managing editor of The Blood-Horse. Ron also was kind enough to take a few photos.
On a recent visit to Ocala, The Blood-Horse’s video producer and director Russell Johnson and I had the good fortune to drop in on Lentenor at Jill and John Stephens’ Stephens Thoroughbreds.
It was a crisp (low 30s) beginning to the day when we visited, but quickly the sun broke through and Lentenor was brought out to the track for a gallop. Exercising with Gabriel DeJesus aboard, Lentenor showed that he likes what he’s doing.

Since Russell’s outstanding video and my exclusive interview with Jill Stephens will be available at bloodhorse.com in the near future, I will not spoil it by revealing all the details here. But suffice to say, Jill believes Lentenor is progressing as well, if not better, than his brothers in certain ways at this point in his development. This is the fourth horse produced from La Ville Rouge that has been under the Stephens’ watchful eye in Florida.
After observing the Stephens’ operation, it is no secret how they are able to get the kind of results they do in prepping horses on behalf of owners such as the Firestones and Jacksons and trainers like Michael Matz, Barclay Tagg, and Christophe Clement, among others.

While there is some major responsibility placed upon the couple, they view it as an honor and a privilege to be working with such quality horses and people. And the results show in Barbaro, Nicanor, and now Lentenor.