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 hired him to train his stable of horses. In 1988, McGaughey won the Eclipse Award for Outstanding Trainer in the United States. Among his many wins, he has captured the Jockey Club Gold Cup 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 winner Lure and Hall of Famer Personal Ensign. 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 NTRA

Biography 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