Shug McGaughey

Trainer Shug McGaughey, III has been suspended 30 days and fined $500 by the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission (KHRC) after one of his trainees, Smokin' T (War Front), tested positive for a metabolite of acepromazine after finishing second in the $200,000 Audubon S. at Churchill Downs June 4. But McGaughey won't be out of action for an entire month. The Nov. 20 ruling stated that the Hall-of-Fame conditioner will only have to serve half of that suspension because of "mitigating circumstances (number of violations in relation to overall record)." The...

Sponsored by Alex Nichols Agency                           1st-AQU, $85K, Msw, 2yo, f, 6f, 12:20 p.m. Owned and bred by Mr. Joseph Alen, BILOXI BLUES (Tapit) makes her first start for trainer Shug McGaughey at the Big A Thursday. Out of the winning Speightstown mare Accepting, herself a half-sister to MGSW Campaign (Curlin), Biloxi Blues hails from the extended female family of GISW Acoma (Empire Maker), GISW and leading sire Arch (Kris S.), dual champion & MGISW Covfefe (Into Mischief), and...

Skims (GB) (Frankel {GB}) took over on the GII Sands Point S. turn under Hall of Famer John Velazquez and kept finding from there to turn the tables on Vergara (Noble Mission {GB})--who beat her by a head last time in the Dueling Grounds Oaks--while giving her superstar sire yet another graded winner. Victorious in her first two turf routes, the Andrew Rosen homebred was subsequently third in the GII Appalachian S. at Keeneland in April and again in Belmont's GII Wonder Again S. over yielding sod June 9. Fifth...

Signator (Tapit) earned the 'TDN Rising Star' tag with a good-looking score at second asking at Belmont at the Big A. A $1.7-million OBSAPR acquisition after breezing in :20 4/5 for Eddie Woods, he finished up well to be second on debut going six panels at this oval Sept. 16 and was hammered down to 3-5 favoritism to go one better here. Away a beat slow from his inside stall, the gray tugged his way up the fence, sitting near the back of the tightly bunched group. Saving ground off...

Front-running Pleasant Passage dug in resolutely Saturday to  honor her recently deceased sire and stamp her ticket to the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf. Up in time to belie longer than 15-1 odds on debut at Saratoga Aug. 21, she employed opposite tactics here under new pilot Irad Ortiz, Jr., taking her five rivals along through fractions of :23.81, :49.77 and 1:14.98 over the yielding going. Free Look took a run at her to try and secure a ninth Miss Grillo trophy for Chad Brown, but Pleasant Passage stiff-armed...

5th-BAQ, $95K, Msw, 2yo, 6 1/2f, 3:05 p.m. EDT Allen Stable's $575,000 KEESEP acquisition LIMITS OF POWER (Good Magic) makes his career bow in this spot for trainer Chug McGaughey. Out of GISP Modification (Vindication), the dark bay is a half-brother to Grade I-winning sprinter and new Spendthrift stallion Yaupon (Uncle Mo), as well as MGSP Sawyer's Hill (Spring At Last). He breezed a best-of-153 half-mile in :47 flat on the Belmont training track two works back Sept. 17. Chad Brown unveils another pricey graduate of that auction in $475,000...

Sponsored by Alex Nichols Agency                                                         1st-BAQ, $95K, Msw, 2yo, 6f, 1:00 p.m. The third-highest price at the OBS April Sale this year (:20 4/5), SIGNATOR (Tapit) makes his debut after bringing a final bid of $1,700,000 from Lane's End Racing & West Point Thoroughbreds. Now racing for Woodford Racing LLC, Lane's End Racing, Phipps Stable and Ken Langone out of trainer Shug McGaughey's...

There is no such thing as a sure thing in horse racing, but 'TDN Rising Star' Flightline (Tapit) will be bet as if Saturday's GI TVG Pacific Classic--a 'Win and You're In' qualifier for the GI Breeders' Cup Classic at Keeneland Nov. 5--is already the proverbial fait accompli. And why not, really? His four towering victories in as many trips to the races have come by an average winning margin of better than 13 lengths. His lowest Beyer Speed Figure is a downright pedestrian 105 earned for his debut just...

SARATOGA SPRINGS, NY - It is very much an understatement to say that during the first week of August 2019, West Point Thoroughbreds and their partners really got it right when purchasing two yearling colts. Maybe even struck gold. Time will tell. On Monday, Aug. 5, 2019 at Fasig-Tipton's Saratoga Sale, West Point, headed by president and CEO Terry Finley, and a group of investors went to $1 million for Hip 80, a son of Tapit out of Feathered (Indian Charlie). He was the session topper. Named Flightline, the lightly...

Imagining (Giant's Causeway--Daydreaming, by A.P. Indy) was euthanized Aug. 23 due to complications from colic, according to a release from Anchor & Hope Farm. The 14-year-old, who won the GI Man O' War S. in 2014 for Phipps Stable and Shug McGaughey, was under the care of veterinarians at New Bolton Center, where surgery was attempted, but the damage was deemed too severe. "Imagining has been with us since the start in 2015. We want to thank Shug McGaughey and the Phipps family for trusting us to bring a Grade...

1st-Saratoga, $105,000, Msw, 8-6, 2yo, 1 1/16mT, 1:45.06, fm, 2 1/4 lengths. BATTLE OF NORMANDY (c, 2, City of Light--Adorable Miss {MSW, $162,590}, by Kitten's Joy), a $500,000 FTSAUG yearling, was drawn widest of all in post seven in the Whitney day opener and chased in an outside fifth rounding the clubhouse turn in this grassy debut run. The 3-1 shot stayed out in the clear in third down the backstretch, began to make his move while three-wide on the far turn and came charging down the stretch to forge...

Sponsored by Alex Nichols Agency MCGAUGHEY UNVEILS SON OF STAR PUPIL 1st-SAR, $105K, Msw, 2yo, 5 1/2f, 1:05 p.m. EDT Shug McGaughey unveils a colt by one of his top former pupils in CAPTURE THE FLAG (Quality Road). He is the second foal out of American Grade I winner and European Group 3 winner War Flag (War Front), who is a full to G1SW Lines of Battle. She is also a half to GSW Homebound (Dixie Union) and SW & GSP Blue Exit (Pulpit). Ian Wilkes also saddles a well-bred...