Claude R. McGaughey III

Birthdate: January 6, 1951

Birthplace: Lexington, Ky.

Residence(s): Old Westbury, N.Y. and North Miami Beach, Fla.

Family: Wife, Alison; sons Claude IV and John Reeve.

Claude R. “Shug” McGaughey III made the difficult climb from young racing fan to Hall of Fame trainer. His parents introduced him to the sport at Keeneland Race Course and he says he was hooked by the atmosphere and the competition. McGaughey dropped out of the University of Mississippi in his junior year to keep his job as a groom with trainer David Carr. He later became an assistant to trainer David Whiteley and opened his own stable in 1979. Six years later, after developing Vanlandingham into a champion, he was named the trainer of the powerful Phipps family stable. His longtime assistant is childhood friend Buzz Tenney. 

McGaughey was inducted into the Racing Hall of Fame in 2004.

During his 27 years at trainer for Phipps Stable, he has developed eight champions, including unbeaten Hall of Famer Personal Ensign, and became one of the premier trainers in Breeders’ Cup history. Also at the top of the impressive list of horses McGaughey has trained are two more Hall of Famer runners, Easy Goer and Inside Information. On October 16, 1993 at Belmont Park he had a remarkable afternoon, winning six races on Breeders’ Cup preview day, with three of his five stakes wins coming in Grade 1 races.

In 2013, McGaughey returned to Churchill Downs for the Kentucky Derby for the first time since 2002 (Saarland) with Orb. The 3-year-old Malibu Moon colt swept from far off the pace to deliver McGaughey his first Kentucky Derby win. Orb followed his big win with a fourth-place effort in the Preakness Stakes before moving on to the final Triple Crown race, the Belmont Stakes where he finished third.

McGaughey also trained 2015 champion older male Honor Code, winner of the Met Mile and Whitney Stakes. Top horses for McGaughey in 2017 were led by War Flag, winner of the Flower Bowl Stakes.

McGaughey-trained Code of Honor qualified for the 2019 Kentucky Derby Presented by Woodford Reserve with a rallying win in the Xpressbet Fountain of Youth Stakes, bringing the Hall of Famer back to Churchill Downs on the first Saturday in May for the first time since Orb’s win in 2013.