McGaughey to operate Oaklawn Park string this winter

For the first time in more than three decades, Hall of Fame trainer Shug McGaughey will have a division of horses at Oaklawn Park in Hot Springs, Ark., this winter.

McGaughey, who primarily operates out of Payson Park in Indiantown, Fla., once moving his string from New York, will send a small division of horses to the Hot Springs oval mostly owned by Shortleaf Stable, which is headed by Arkansas native John Ed Anthony.

McGaughey and Anthony have been acquainted with one another for more than 30 years having teamed up to campaign eventual 1985 Champion Older Horse Vanlandingham, who raced under Anthony's Loblolly Stable. Vanlandingham also won the 1984 Rebel at Oaklawn en route to a start in that year's Kentucky Derby, where he finished 16th. 

The small string of horses will be supervised by McGaughey's son and assistant Reeve. 

"I've got eight or 10 horses for him and he lives in Hot Springs and he was looking for someone that would stable there," McGaughey said. "I'll send my son over there with them and it'll be his operation and give him a chance to start on his own. That's the reason we're going there, but the purses are enticing."

McGaughey's first graded stakes win came at Oaklawn Park in 1978 when Northernette won the Grade 2 Apple Blossom, which now boasts Grade 1 status.

Oaklawn Park's 2020 meet is set to kick off January 24 and runs through May 2.