Claude R. "Shug" McGaughey III (born January 6, 1951) is an American Hall of Fame
thoroughbred
The Thoroughbred is a horse breed best known for its use in horse racing. Although the word ''thoroughbred'' is sometimes used to refer to any breed of purebred horse, it technically refers only to the Thoroughbred breed. Thoroughbreds are c ...
horse trainer
A horse trainer is a person who tends to horses and teaches them different disciplines. Some of the responsibilities trainers have are caring for the animals' physical needs, as well as teaching them submissive behaviors and/or coaching them for e ...
.
McGaughey began working as a trainer in 1979 and to date has won more than 240
graded stakes race
A graded stakes race is a thoroughbred horse race in the United States that meets the criteria of the American Graded Stakes Committee of the Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders Association (TOBA). A specific grade level (I, II, III or listed) is then ...
s. In 1986, he got his big break when
Ogden Phipps
Ogden Phipps (November 26, 1908 – April 21, 2002) was an American stockbroker, court tennis champion and Hall of Fame member, thoroughbred horse racing executive and owner/breeder, and an art collector and philanthropist. In 2001, he was inducte ...
hired him to train his stable of horses. In 1988, McGaughey won the
Eclipse Award for Outstanding Trainer The Eclipse Award for Outstanding Trainer is an American Thoroughbred horse racing honor for trainers. Created in 1971, it is part of the Eclipse Awards program and is awarded annually.
Its Canadian counterpart is the Sovereign Award for Outstandin ...
in the United States. Among his many wins, he has captured the
Jockey Club Gold Cup
The Jockey Club Gold Cup, established in 1919, is a thoroughbred flat race open to horses of either gender three-years-old and up. It has traditionally been the main event of the fall meeting at Belmont Park, just as the Belmont Stakes is of the sp ...
three times, the
Travers Stakes
The Travers Stakes is an American Grade I Thoroughbred horse race held at Saratoga Race Course in Saratoga Springs, New York. It is nicknamed the "Mid-Summer Derby" and is the third-ranked race for American three-year-olds according to internation ...
four times, and won the 1989
Belmont Stakes
The Belmont Stakes is an American Grade I stakes race for three-year-old Thoroughbreds run at Belmont Park in Elmont, New York. It is run over 1.5 miles (2,400 m). Colts and geldings carry a weight of ; fillies carry . The race, nicknamed Th ...
with Hall of Fame
Champion
A champion (from the late Latin ''campio'') is the victor in a challenge, contest or competition. There can be a territorial pyramid of championships, e.g. local, regional / provincial, state, national, continental and world championships, an ...
Easy Goer
Easy Goer (March 21, 1986 – May 12, 1994) was an American Champion Hall of Fame Thoroughbred racehorse known for earning American Champion Two-Year-Old Colt honors in 1988 and defeating 1989 American Horse of the Year Sunday Silence in th ...
as well as the 2013
Kentucky Derby
The Kentucky Derby is a horse race held annually in Louisville, Kentucky, United States, almost always on the first Saturday in May, capping the two-week-long Kentucky Derby Festival. The competition is a Grade I stakes race for three-year ...
with
Orb. McGaughey's nine
Breeders' Cup
The Breeders' Cup World Championships is an annual series of Grade I Thoroughbred horse races, operated by Breeders' Cup Limited, a company formed in 1982. From its inception in 1984 through 2006, it was a single-day event; starting in 2007, ...
victories ranks second to
D. Wayne Lukas
Darrell Wayne Lukas (born September 2, 1935 in Antigo, Wisconsin) is an American horse trainer and a U.S. Racing Hall of Fame inductee. He has won twenty Breeders' Cup races, received five Eclipse Awards for his accomplishments, and his horses ha ...
. Among the other horses he has trained are back-to-back
Breeders' Cup Mile
The Breeders' Cup Mile is a Grade 1 Weight for Age stakes race for thoroughbred racehorses three years old and up, run on a grass course. It has been conducted annually as part of the Breeders' Cup World Championships since the event's incept ...
winner
Lure and Hall of Famer
Personal Ensign
Personal Ensign (April 27, 1984 – April 8, 2010) was a champion Thoroughbred racehorse who retired undefeated with 13 wins. At the time, this was the longest win streak for a horse at the elite level of American racing in 80 years. Her come ...
. McGaughey has accomplished the rare trifecta of training a Breeders' Cup winner, her daughter, and her granddaughter in the troika of Personal Ensign, My Flag and Storm Flag Flying. In 2013 he won his first Kentucky Derby with Orb.
In 2004, McGaughey was inducted into the
National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame
The National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame was founded in 1950 in Saratoga Springs, New York, to honor the achievements of American Thoroughbred race horses, jockeys, and trainers. In 1955, the museum moved to its current location on Union Av ...
. At his induction ceremony, he said: "My deepest debt of gratitude always has been and always will be to the
Phipps family
The Phipps family of the United States is a prominent American family that descends from Henry Phipps Jr. (1839–1930), a businessman and philanthropist. His father was an English shoemaker who immigrated in the early part of the 19th century t ...
" and "My affiliation with the Phipps family is one of the great highlights of my life. I wouldn't be here without them."
References
Shug McGaughey at the NTRABiography and racing highlites for Claude R. McGaughey III at Keeneland*
{{DEFAULTSORT:McGaughey, Shug
American horse trainers
United States Thoroughbred Racing Hall of Fame inductees
Eclipse Award winners
1951 births
Living people
Horse trainers from Lexington, Kentucky