Ogden Phipps

Hall of Fame trainer Shug McGaughey tells us how he got his unique nickname. He also lets us know who he doesn't like to play golf with. Who do you think is the horse that is closest to his heart out of all of those he has trained? If you thought Easy Goer, you would be wrong. Shug also tells us what his favorite race track is and how long he wants to keep doing this (hint: he isn't going anywhere anytime time soon). Here is the Saratoga Conversation. TDN:...

SARATOGA SPRINGS, NY--Favored Idiomatic (Curlin) towered over her competition both in stature and on paper in Saturday's GI Ogden Phipps S. Despite her imposing presence, however, it was Klaravich Stables' Randomized (Nyquist) who stole the show when holding on to a head victory over last year's champion older mare in the 'Win and You're In' event for the GI Breeders' Cup Distaff at Del Mar in November. Breaking from the rail, Randomized, sent off at generous 6-1 odds for trainer Chad Brown, scooted to the front several strides in while...

In this continuing series, we examine the past winners of significant filly/mare races by the lasting influence they've had on the breed. Up today is Saratoga's GI Personal Ensign S., renamed in 1998 to honor the undefeated Hall of Fame Phipps mare. Originally known as the Firenze H. and then the John A. Morris H., the Personal Ensign dates to 1948. While members of the Phipps family have won six editions of the race which now holds one of the greatest names associated with the stable, Personal Ensign never actually...

ELMONT, NY - Breathe easy. Following significant improvement in air quality conditions throughout New York State, the 155th GI Belmont Stakes--celebrating the 50th anniversary of Secretariat's performance of a lifetime in the final leg of the Triple Crown--will go on as scheduled Saturday evening. If there's one sire's name that you want to see when handicapping the 1 1/2-mile Classic, it's Tapit. Responsible for a co-record four Belmont winners, two second-place finishers and two third-place finishers, the 22-year-old Gainesway kingpin will be represented by potential race favorite Tapit Trice (Tapit)...

Last Thursday, I received an email out of the blue from someone I didn't know. Evidently Jason Brooks listens to me every Wednesday on Steve Byk's "At the Races" radio show where we discuss pedigrees among other things, and Brooks wanted to inform me that there were "21 graded stakes wins in the first half of 2022 for horses with Phipps pedigrees." According to Brooks, he does social media for Phipps Stable and operates the account @PhippsStableFan on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube. Curious, I took a look at his...

Saturday's GI Ogden Phipps S. may have only attracted five horses, but it was the "right" five with champions Malathaat (Curlin) and Letruska (Super Saver), Grade I winners Clairiere (Curlin) and Search Results (Flatter) and MGSW Bonny South (Munnings). After a knock down, drag out fight on the front end between Letruska and Search Results, it was left to the two Stonestreet Stables-bred fillies, Clairiere and Malathaat, to decide it in the lane. In the end, it was Clairiere, carrying her breeders' famed gold and burgundy silks, who got her...

Dual Grade I winner She's a Julie (Elusive Quality--Kydd Gloves, by Dubai Millenium {GB}) held her own during a star-studded run of mares at Fasig-Tipton November Sunday when selling for $3 million to Spendthrift Farm, who also bought Monomoy Girl (Tapizar) and Got Stormy (Get Stormy) earlier in the sale. Originally sold for $160,000 at KEESEP, the bay took a pair of Grade III events as a 3-year-old and added the GI La Troienne S. last spring before annexing the GI Ogden Phipps S. this year. The millionaire sold as...

Peter Bradley has hand picked a number of yearlings that have gone on to become top-class runners--from GISW and now-sire Klimt (Quality Road) to Eclipse Champion Lady Eli (Divine Park). And while he can distinctly recall the days when he purchased those eventual headliners, so too can he remember the yearlings that he passed on who would go on to do big things. Bradley first saw She's a Julie (Elusive Quality) at the 2016 Keeneland September Sale, and while impressed with her physical, a simple vet issue kept him from...

Trainer Mark Casse and the other class of 2020 inductees to the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame will have to wait another year to give their official acceptance speeches because the COVID-19 pandemic postponed this year's ceremony. But on Sunday, as a panelist among globally recognized trainers at the 68th annual Round Table Conference hosted remotely by The Jockey Club, Casse spoke with passion in a wide-ranging discussion that touched on problems plaguing the sport from a trainer's perspective. The words he uttered might not have been...