5.1.2002	Photo By: Jeremy Lyverse
		Trainer Claude R. "Shug" McGaughey (above), a native of Lexington, Ky., will be saddling his first Derby starter since 1989 when he leads over Cynthia Phipps' Saarland to compete in the 128th running of the Kentucky Derby (GI) on May 4. "The older you get, you get less and less chances," McGaughey said. "Every year that goes by, that makes it even more important. I wish I had won this thing early in my career so you wouldn't have to worry about it anymore."

Saarland Carries Hopes Of Kentucky-Bred McGaughey, Phipps Family In Derby 128
By William F. Reed
May 2, 2002

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (May 2, 2002) - An old-fashioned, unassuming man of few words, trainer Claude R. "Shug" McGaughey has made the loudest statement of all during the week before Saturday's 128th Kentucky Derby (GI). His mere presence on the backside at Churchill Downs speaks volumes for what he thinks of Saarland, the regally-bred colt he trains for Cynthia Phipps.

Like most horsemen who are Kentucky natives, McGaughey regards the Derby with a towering respect that borders on reverence. He would no more clutter a Derby field with an undeserving colt than he would show up in the Derby paddock wearing a T-shirt, cutoff jeans, and flip-flops. No more than he would paint grafitti on the Twin Spires.

The proof is that despite being one of the nation's most respected trainers, McGaughey hasn't run a horse in the Derby since 1989, when Easy Goer and Awe Inspiring finished second and third, respectively, to Sunday Silence. That's a 13-year hiatus at the peak of his career.

"The older you get, you get less and less chances," McGaughey said. "Every year that goes by, that makes it even more important. I wish I had won this thing early in my career so you wouldn't have to worry about it anymore."

His Derby absence hasn't been because McGaughey has lacked talented 3-year-old colts. In 1990, McGaughey skipped the Triple Crown races with Rhythm, the previous year's 2-year-old champion, because of his sometimes fiery temperament and a throat problem that required surgery. In August, however, Rhythm was his old self in winning the Travers Stakes (GI) at Saratoga.

In 1996, McGaughey thought he was coming to the Derby with Roar. But when that colt finished only third in the Lexington Stakes (GII) at Keeneland, McGaughey sent him back to New York instead of putting him on a van to Churchill Downs.

And two years later, McGaughey won the 1998 Wood Memorial (GI) for owner Stuart Janney with a talented, but headstrong, colt named Coronado's Quest, whose brilliance was compromised by pre-race antics such as refusing to leave the paddock, rearing, and breaking loose.

Still, he was so talented that any trainer other than McGaughey would have brought him to Louisville for the Derby. But McGaughey resisted the temptation on the grounds that the colt might flare up before the Derby and disrupt the crowded paddock.

"It gets pretty serious when he gets that look in his eye," McGaughey said. "It could really get ugly at the Derby. I wouldn't want to put him through it. I wouldn't want to compromise the chances of the other contenders, and I wouldn't want to hurt the Derby."

That sort of class and taste is one of the reasons Ogden Phipps, long a pillar of the racing establishment, hired him in 1986 to return the Phipps Stable to the prominence that Phipps coveted avidly from the time he registered his black-and-cherry red silks with the Jockey Club in 1932.

Ogden Phipps' mother, Mrs. Henry Carnegie Phipps, owned the famed Wheatley Stable. It produced Bold Ruler, who became the world's leading sire. His most successful son was Secretariat, winner of the 1973 Triple Crown. She was succeeded by her son, who campaigned Buckpasser, the 1966 Horse of the Year.

Nevertheless, trainer Eddie Neloy, who died of a heart attack in 1969, wasn't happy with the Phippses. As he once grumbled, "They're always looking over your shoulder. The old man comes out in the morning and 'Dinny' takes over at noon."

After Neloy's death, the stable went into a prolonged decline that even such accomplished trainers as Roger Laurin, John Russell, and Angel Penna, Sr. couldn't turn around. But in McGaughey, Phipps found exactly the trainer he wanted and needed.

Soon the Phipps Stable again was winning major stakes races with brilliant runners such as Classy Cathy (1986 Alabama), Polish Navy (1987 Woodward), Strike the Gold (1988 Super Derby), Dancing Spree (1989 Breeders' Cup Sprint), Versailles Treaty (1991 Alabama), Lure (1992 and '93 Breeders' Cup Mile), Dispute (1993 Kentucky Oaks), Heavenly Prize (1994 Alabama), and Inside Information (1995 Breeders' Cup Distaff).

In the 1988 Breeders' Cup at Churchill, McGaughey's emotions ran the gamut. He was thrilled when Personal Ensign came from far behind to collar Winning Colors and win the Distaff, enabling her to end her career as the first unbeaten major thoroughbred since 1913. But he was bitterly disappointed when Easy Goer finished second in the Juvenile, a precursor of his runner-up finish in the next year's Derby.

However, Easy Goer redeemed himself in 1989, losing the Preakness Stakes (GI) by only a nose to Sunday Silence, thrashing his rival to win the Belmont Stakes (GI), and then adding the Travers at Saratoga. Still, the Derby was the one that McGaughey and the elder Phipps coveted the most.

Saarland, a son of 1990 Derby winner out of the Danzig mare Versailles Treaty, has campaigned in the name of Cynthia Phipps, with the elder Phipps owning a small piece of him. As a 2-year-old, he finished a disappointing eighth to Johannesburg in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile (GI), but rebounded to win the Remsen Stakes (GIII) a month later.

In his debut this year, he finished second to the speedy Mayakovsky in the March 17 Gotham Stakes (GIII) at Aqueduct. McGaughey felt that set him up perfectly for a big run in the Apr. 13 Wood Memorial (GI), but he finished only fourth. At first, McGaughey blamed his come-from-behind colt's performance on a slow pace. But then he detected a breathing problem that Dr. Mark Cheney apparently cleared up with minor surgergy.

Relieved, McGaughey announced that Saarland was Derby-bound. Sadly, however, the elder Phipps won't be around to follow his progress, as he has avidly since the colt was a yearling. He was 93 when he died on Apr. 24.

"It's a very sad thing," McGaughey said. "He gave so much to the game. He was a fine man, and I'll always be grateful for all that he did for me."

There has been talk that Cynthia Phipps might run Saarland in her father's silks instead of her own. The colt will be ridden, as usual, by John Velasquez, who's also looking for his first Derby win.

Because of Phipps' death, Saarland will attract a lot of action from hunch bettors and the superstituous. But win or lose, you can bet on one thing - "Shug" McGaughey didn't bring the colt to Louisville for sentimental reasons. He brought him strictly because he thinks Saarland can win the race he cherishs above all others.

Native Kentuckian William F. "Billy" Reed has been a sports writer in various capacities for 42 years and has missed covering the Kentucky Derby a mere two times since 1966. He has been a high-profile sports writer in Kentucky for the Commonwealth's two largest daily newspapers, the Louisville Courier-Journal and the Lexington Herald-Leader and was a national columnist for Sports Illustrated, covering among other sports, Thoroughbred horse racing and college basketball. Reed currently pens a column for the Louisville Sports Report , contrbiutes features to the Keeneland program and will be, among varied other assignments, filing Kentucky Derby installments on www.kentuckyderby.com.

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