McGaughey Horses Nab Stakes in Florida, Look to Future

It was a stakes-winning weekend in Florida for Hall of Fame trainer Shug McGaughey who took home top honors with General Jim  and Surprisingly  at two different tracks in the coastal state Feb. 4.

General Jim, victor in the Swale Stakes (G3) at Gulfstream Park, has had an interesting career thus far, switching between grass and dirt with success on both surfaces in six starts.

After coming third in his first start on the dirt at Saratoga Race Course in August of last year, McGaughey started working the colt on the turf until he broke his maiden in September at the Spa. He finished third in the Central Park Stakes over the Aqueduct Racetrack grass two months later.

Despite his success, Donald Adam of Courtlandt Farms, who owns the 3-year-old son of Into Mischief  , wanted to give the dirt another try.

"Mr. Adam, rightfully so, expressed an interest in dirt. ... I said, 'I don't have a problem with that.' I knew the Mucho Macho Man (Stakes) was around the first of January so I pointed him to that," McGaughey said. "I thought that would be a good way to kind of see a flat mile going around one turn.. .. He looked like a winner to me the whole way and then he got in a jumble and didn't finish the way I wanted him to."

After a disappointing off-the-board finish in the Mucho Macho Man, McGaughey says he wanted to challenge the colt with the Swale. 

"I thought maybe it would be a good learning experience to sort of shorten him up which we did going seven-eighths and let him sit back and make one quick run to where he learns to run past horses. ... I think we can get him stretched out, I like the blinkers on him too.

"Luis (Saez) had to get him into the race a little but it worked out pretty well. He had a target sort of the whole way and was able to finish well. He seemed to come out of it good and I'll talk to Mr. Adam and see what he thinks. He's a developing type of horse. ... I think he's got a pretty good future."

Next up for the colt could be starts at either Aqueduct or Keeneland in graded stakes company, including several which are prep races on the road to the Kentucky Derby (G1). 

"We'll figure out whether we want to stretch him out or run him in a race like the Bay Shore (Stakes, G3) at Aqueduct or Lafayette (Stakes) at Keeneland. The Blue Grass (Stakes, G1) would make be a good place to stretch him out where he's run decent over this track and won. We'll see what's going on, maybe try the Florida Derby (G1) or something.

"The biggest thing is I want to give the horse a chance, I think in the long run he has a chance to be pretty good. ... It's nice to have a horse like him. When they come in being by Into Mischief with a decent pedigree it kind of gives you a little bit of a leg up."

McGaughey's other runner on Saturday was the 4-year-old Mastery   filly Surprisingly , who captured the Endeavor Stakes (G3T) at Tampa Bay Downs. Similarly to General Jim, the homebred for Phipps Stable has also run on dual surfaces during her career.

"She broke her maiden in her first start at Monmouth on the dirt and I ran her back in the Tempted (Stakes) and she wasn't really ready for that and didn't run well," McGaughey said. "We gave her some time off and found some races in Kentucky that I thought she ran good in. We were disappointed in her Virginia Oaks (seventh-place finish), can't really give her an excuse for that.

"I brought her to Belmont and gave her the time; I felt like she wanted the grass and really didn't think about a race for her during the fall. I thought I'd give her a chance in the Tropical Parks Oaks. It rained so they took it off to the Tapeta and I thought she ran really, really good. She felt her way around and finished sort of the way she did yesterday, but she was second."

McGaughey, who began training for Ogden Phipps in the 1980s, has a long history with the filly's family, having trained her dam Vagabond  who is a daughter of Arch , and third dam Matlacha Pass. 

"I was very, very pleased with the way she ran. She's got a good pedigree being by Vagabond. ... I was very proud of her race and it shows you what happens with those pedigrees. Mastery hasn't been the worst, but not the best sire," McGaughey said.

"When you get back into those female families like the Phipps have had the Claiborne older mares always seem to jump up. Those are good solid female families. I like that better than breeding a little bit top heavy sire-wise."

Since entering stud in 2018, Claiborne Farm's Mastery is the sire of just one other graded stakes winner thus far, 2022 Zenyatta Stakes (G2) winner Midnight Memories . He stands the 2023 season for $7,500 in Paris, Ky. 

As for Surprisingly, McGaughey says that no matter the outcome of the remainder of her career, she will have a spot as a broodmare waiting for her after retiring from the track. 

"As we go down the line, I hope there's some more nice races in her, but no matter what she's another nice filly with a lot of pedigree and a graded stakes winner who can go home to their broodmare band," he said. 

"I'll come up with some sort of game plan. I don't want to throw her to the wolves too quick, let her prove it. I think she'll run a distance of ground, probably up to a mile and a quarter or so with the way she ran yesterday. That's going to open up a lot of options for her. ... We'll just see as we go along."