Claude R. "Shug" McGaughey III (born January 6, 1951) is an American Hall of Fame
thoroughbredhorse trainer.
Biography
McGaughey began working as a trainer in 1979 and to date has won more than 240
graded stakes races. 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 four times, and won the 1989
Belmont Stakes with Hall of Fame
ChampionEasy Goer as well as the 2013
Kentucky Derby with
Orb. McGaughey's nine
Breeders' Cup victories ranks second to
D. Wayne Lukas. 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. At his induction ceremony, he said: "My deepest debt of gratitude always has been and always will be to the
Phipps family" and "My affiliation with the Phipps family is one of the great highlights of my life. I wouldn't be here without them."