Never Explain winning Pimlico’s Grade 3 Dinner Party Stakes. (Jim McCue/Maryland Jockey Club)
(Imagine if Never Explain wins $1.7 million KY Turf Cup!)
By Jennie Rees
FRANKLIN, Ky. — Though New York-based trainer Shug McGaughey had been very successful with his limited starters at Kentucky Downs, it wasn’t until last Sunday that he actually came to the races at the unique course that butts up to Tennessee.
Now, he can’t wait to come back. McGaughey and his wife Alison will be back at Kentucky Downs for Saturday’s showcase card featuring six graded stakes worth at least $1 million for Kentucky-breds. First post is 11:30 a.m. Central.
McGaughey is running the Kentucky-bred Never Explain in the $1.7 million, Grade 2 FanDuel Kentucky Turf Cup at 1 1/2 miles, the last of Saturday’s 12 races. He also has Personal Best in the $1 million, Grade 3 Aristocrat Ladies Marathon at 1 5/16 miles. McGaughey already has won one $1 million stakes this meet, with Talk of the Nation taking the Sept. 2 Gun Runner.
McGaughey wasn’t at Kentucky Downs that day, but he was at the track the next day when he had three seconds and a third with seven starters.
“I really enjoyed it,” he said by phone as he prepared to fly back to Kentucky. “Loved it. I loved the atmosphere. The people. I felt like when I went over there, I had a chance. The people were very friendly. I ran into a lot of people I hadn’t seen for a while, and others who came up and introduced themselves, just being friendly, recognizing me. I thought the Kentucky Downs people couldn’t have been any more accommodating. The whole experience was a whole lot of fun; there’s a lot of enthusiasm. That’s what racing needs.”
Never Explain, owned by Courtlandt Farms, comes into the Kentucky Turf Cup off a late-running, traffic-hampered fourth in Colonial Downs’ Arlington Million (G1). He started his 2023 with three straight wins, including Pimlico’s Dinner Party (G3), then was a close second in the Monmouth Stakes (G3) and third in Saratoga’s Bowling Green (G2). Joel Rosario picked up the mount.
“In the Arlington Million he kind of missed the hole a little bit,” McGaughey said, adding of Rosario’s agent, Ron Anderson, “Ron talked to me about the race. I knew he’d get in the race. I had a couple of others that didn’t. I think going a mile and a half, if he likes the course, I think he’ll run really well over it. He’s a bit one-paced, but if you need it, he can have a kick like he did in the race at Pimlico. I’m looking forward to running him.”
Joseph Allen’s beautifully bred and distance-loving Personal Best (by Tapit, out of a War Front mare) is among the favorites in the Ladies Marathon and has the benefit of having won a Kentucky Downs maiden race last year at the stakes distance. Personal Best began her 4-year-old season with a victory in Gulfstream Park’s La Prevoyante (G3). After she was a well-beaten third behind the high-quality War Like Goddess in Keeneland’s Bewitch (G3), Personal Best got an almost three-month break. She returned with a fifth in Monmouth Park’s 1 1/8-mile Matchmaker (G3) but should appreciate going back to longer distances. Irad Oriz, aboard for most of her races, has the mount.
“She ran a really, really good race there last year,” McGaughey said. “It was a maiden race, but it might have been the best race she’s ever run, even though she’s a graded-stakes winner. I had this on the map the whole time if she was training well. I got Irad to breeze her at Saratoga last Friday and everybody seemed to be pleased with what was going on. Looking back and thinking about the race she ran last year over that course makes me confident she should be able to run her race.”
McGaughey’s first big grass horse was the Hall of Famer Lure, the 1992-1993 Breeders’ Cup Mile winner who was put on turf almost as a last-ditch effort after some disappointing efforts on dirt.
“They used to say a long time ago that ‘He can’t train on the grass,’” McGaughey said. “Now we have a lot of grass pedigrees.”
He said he will look to run more horses at Kentucky Downs in the future.
“Definitely,” he said. “I’m kind of learning. I think I learned a lot this year and I’m sure I’ll learn more in the next two or three days as we run out the meet. But yeah, I’ll be as active there as I have been this year, hopefully, in years to come.
“It’s not just the money. The money has something to do with it. But there are a lot of opportunities and different opportunities. And, like I say, I feel when I lead them over there, I’ve got a chance.”
