Shug McGaughey has waited all his life to win the Kentucky Derby and once it happened, he was lost for words.
The 62-year-old Hall Of Fame trainer had won every major race on the American calendar bar one until Orb won Saturday’s Run To The Roses.
“It’s just something I can’t put into words,” McGaughey said.
“Maybe one day when I settle down, I’ll be able to put it into words.”
McGaughey had tried six times previously to win the race in his home state, the first time in 1984.
He came close in 1989 when Easy Goer finished a disappointing second to Sunday Silence, a race McGaughey said he’d never watched on tape.
Maybe he’d never win the Derby. Maybe he could live with that.
“It’s something he’d think about,” said Alison McGaughey, his wife of 16 years. “But he waits for the horse.”
The man who had trained for 30-plus years wondered if maybe that elusive horse wouldn’t come.
“I’ve worried about it for a while,” he said. “I might not have let anybody know that, but inside it’s always there.”
On the morning of the race as the heavy clouds spit rain, McGaughey tried to steady himself.
“Just enjoy the race,” he told himself. “If it works, it works. If it doesn’t, it doesn’t.”
As Orb crossed the finish line, it was like those same clouds had floated to the ground and suddenly he was walking on them. McGaughey’s smile got wider and tears started to cluster in the corners of his eyes.
“I’m going to watch this one quite a bit, I think,” Shug McGaughey said. “This one’s a little more special than any of them.”
Alison said it was more than just a little bit special.
“It’s a dream come true for him,” she said. “He’s thought about this his whole life. This moment is perfect.”
