McGaughey headlines Hall of Fame inductees

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. — Trainer Shug McGaughey, jockey Kent Desormeaux and 1998 Horse of the Year Skip Away were inducted into thoroughbred racing’s Hall of Fame on Monday.

Flawlessly, perhaps the most successful offspring of 1978 Triple Crown winner Affirmed, entered in the contemporary female horse category. Jimmy Winkfield, a two-time Kentucky Derby winner in the early 1900s, was enshrined in the historic jockey category, and Bowl of Flowers entered in the historic horse category.

“I’m overwhelmed to be joining such distinguished company,” McGaughey said. “I’m grateful to the Hall of Fame committee, to the news media and, of course, everyone who voted for me.”

Among McGaughey’s top feats were winning six stakes races in one day, campaigning champion Personal Ensign through a 13-race unbeaten career, and sending Easy Goer out to win the 1989 Belmont Stakes.

McGaughey, 53, has saddled more than 1,300 winners and his horses have earned more than $84 million in a career that began in 1979.

Desormeaux, among the top riders in Southern California, won the 1998 Kentucky Derby and Preakness with Real Quiet and the 2000 Derby aboard Fusaichi Pegasus. The 34-year-old rider from Maurice, La., has won more than 4,500 races with total purses earned topping $186 million. He holds the record for wins in a single season with 598 in 1989.

Skip Away, among the most dominant horses from 1996-1998, enters the Hall a year after his trainer Sonny Hine was inducted posthumously. Hine died in 2000.

Skip Away won 18 of 38 starts, with earnings of $9,616,360 — the second-highest total behind Cigar.