Shug McGaughey

Radio Days (Gun Runner) took her record to two-for-two with 'TDN Rising Star' performance at Aqueduct Thursday. A debut winner in the slop at Belmont Oct. 31, she was heavily favored at 1-5 to repeat here. Settling well back off the pace in fourth, the $750,000 KEESEP buy swept up three wide to take on the top three on the backstretch run. Left with just one foe at the top of the lane, Radio Days quickly shrugged her off and rolled clear with ease to win for fun by 8...

Sponsored by Alex Nichols Agency 6th-AQU, $80K, Msw, 2yo, f, 6 1/2f, 2:14 p.m. Hall of Famer Shug McGaughey unveils a pair of well-bred newcomers in this salty-looking test. Courtlandt Farm paid $1,025,000 for Adam's Angel (Into Mischief) as a Keeneland September yearling. Out of stakes-placed Mary Rita (Distorted Humor) and bred on the same cross as Practical Joke and Life Is Good, the bay's third dam is the McGaughey-trained Hall of Famer and blue hen Personal Ensign (Private Account). Gainesway Stable and Andrew Rosen, meanwhile, will be represented by...

1st-Aqueduct, $80,000, Msw, 11-12, 2yo, f, 7f, 1:26.45, my, head. KATHLEEN O. (f, 2, Upstart--Quaver {SP}, by Blame) was the buzz horse in the Friday opener from Aqueduct, as she was bet down all the way into 13-4 from a morning line of 8-1, but jumped only fairly from the widest stall in a field of seven. Racing in a detached last while trying to find her footing in the off going, the dark bay was ridden patiently by Javier Castellano while still clearly last into the turn, but began...

Pink Sands (Tapit--Her Smile, by Include), a two-time graded winner for Gainesway Stable and Andrew Rosen and offered in foal to Into Mischief, took the lead late on the opening day of the Keeneland November Sale, realizing a final bid of $2.3 million from Japan's Masahiro Miki. Consigned by Gainesway as agent, the 6-year-old daughter of GI Prioress S. victress Her Smile (Include) was brought along patiently by Shug McGaughey and registered her first stakes victory in the 2019 Lady's Secret S. at Monmouth Park. Winner of the GIII Rampart...

Five juvenile colts not quite up to the quality of the Breeders' Cup are signed on for Sunday's GIII Nashua S., being held this year at Belmont Park, and features runners based on either coast sent out by Hall of Fame conditioners. Shug McGaughey has won the Nashua but once in his illustrious career, sending out the tempestuous Coronado's Quest (Forty Niner) back in 1997. Courtlandt Farms' Judge Davis (Distorted Humor) carries the hopes of the stable into the final graded event of the fall meet. A debut fourth behind...

W.S. Farish-owned and bred multiple Grade I winner Code of Honor (Noble Mission {GB}--Reunited, by Dixie Union) will stand the 2022 season at Lane's End Farm. Earning almost $3 million in a career that included graded stakes performances each year from two to five, the colt is a six-time graded stakes winner and has a chance to add a seventh score at that level in Saturday's GII Hagyard Fayette S. at Keeneland. Code of Honor graduated on debut before running second despite stumbling badly at the start in the GI...

Sponsored by Alex Nichols Agency PRICEY QUALITY ROAD COLT DEBUTS IN NY 3rd-BEL, $90K, Msw, 2yo, 7f, 1:41 p.m. Shug McGaughey unveils an expensive son of Quality Road here in CITIZEN MACK. A $950,000 KEESEP purchase by Don & Donna Adam's Courtlandt Farm, the dark bay is the first foal out of Rutile (Medaglia d'Oro), who is a daughter of MSW Set Them Free (Stop the Music). That blue hen mare is also responsible for GI Kentucky Derby winner Giacomo (Holy Bull), MGISW Tiago (Pleasant Tap); GSW & MGISP Stanwyck...

6th-BEL, $90K, Msw, 2yo, 6 1/2f, 4:43 p.m. ET    SIDEKICK (Honor Code), a 2-year-old half-brother to MGISW and GI Woodward S.-bound Code of Honor (Noble Mission {GB}), debuts for Hall of Famer Shug McGaughey. The Edward J. Hudson, Jr. and W.S. Farish colorbearer worked four furlongs from the gate in :48 (7/50) at Belmont Sept. 25. John Velazquez has the mount. TJCIS PPs

A pair of impressive debut winners by the same sire earlier in the meet at Saratoga, one each from the Shug McGaughey and Chad Brown barns, figure to take the bulk of the play in a seven-horse renewal of the GIII With Anticipation S. for juvenile males going 1 1/16 miles on turf to kick off closing week Wednesday at the Spa. Given the nod at 7-5 on the morning line is Stuart Janney's homebred Limited Liability (Kitten's Joy). Racing with just one horse beaten early debuting over this course...

On Wednesday, disgraced trainer Jorge Navarro pled guilty to one count of distribution of adulterated and misbranded drugs with the intent to defraud and mislead, a major development in the doping scandal that has rocked the sport since indictments were announced in March of 2020. Navarro will likely spend time in prison and has been ordered to pay restitution in the amount of $25,860,514. His career is over and he may be deported to his native Panama. But was this good day or bad day for the sport?  And what...

SARATOGA SPRINGS, NY--Four-time GI Runhappy Travers S.-winning trainer Shug McGaughey said Thursday that First Captain (Curlin) will not run in Saratoga's signature race Aug. 28. Godoplphin's Essential Quality (Tapit), the winner of seven of eight career starts, including the GI Belmont S., is the headliner for the 152nd running of the $1.25 million Travers. Though the chestnut colt is fine following his third-place finish in the Curlin S. July 30, McGaughey decided to pass on the Travers and point to the GI Pennsylvania Derby Sept. 25. "I just don't think...

1st-Saratoga, $100,000, Msw, 8-7, 2yo, 1 1/16mT, 1:44.28, fm, 2 1/4 lengths. DRIPPING GOLD (c, 2, Lemon Drop Kid--Aurelia, by Danzig) was let go at a generous 63-10 off a 9-2 morning line and took advantage of a golden trip to score by a comfortable margin in the Whitney Day opener at Saratoga. In the early vanguard, Dripping Gold came back to Jose Lezcano to sit a close-up fourth for the opening six furlongs. Pulled off the inside to deliver his challenge passing the quarter pole, he pinched a winning...