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‘Starting To Get The Hang Of It Now’: Reeve McGaughey Saddles Second Winner At Ellis Park

Reeve McGaughey earned his first training victory in his home state Saturday as 12-1 shot Nathan Detroit won his debut in the sixth race for 2-year-olds at the RUNHAPPY Summer Meet at Ellis Park. But the 31-year-old horseman certainly is no stranger to the winner's circle in Kentucky and elsewhere.

McGaughey is the son of New York-based Hall of Fame trainer Shug McGaughey and veteran Kentucky horsewoman Mary Jane Featherston McGaughey. His uncle is Charlie LoPresti, for whom Reeve McGaughey was an assistant for five years during which time the stable had two-time Horse of the Year and three-time turf champion Wise Dan.

Before going out on his own, Reeve served for several years as an assistant to his dad, which made it easier for the elder McGaughey to run more horses in Kentucky.

“I've grown up around it between my uncle, my dad, my mom, my step dad (Brent Smith),” Reeve McGaughey said. “I don't think you're ever completely prepared for when it's your name in the program versus somebody else's, just the responsibility of it. But I think we're starting to get the hang of it now, hopefully.”

Reeve McGaughey sent out his first runner as a trainer on Feb. 2 at Arkansas' Oaklawn Park and earned his first victory in his eighth start. Nathan Detroit was his 20th starter for his Lexington-based stable that now totals 12 horses.

“He's been patient by doing it so he didn't get overrun with maybe not enough help and too many horses to deal with right off the bat,” Shug McGaughey, speaking from New York, said of Reeve building a stable. “I think he's done a very good job of that.”

Nathan Detroit is owned by Joe Allen, one of his dad's clients. Reeve also ran a horse Saturday at Ellis for the Phipps Stable, the powerful outfit that brought the elder McGaughey to New York from Kentucky 35 years ago.

“They'd all been around him,” Shug said of his owners and his son. “They all like and admired Reeve. If the horse wasn't going to do in New York, they wanted to have it with him down there. That's worked out well. It's not me pushing the horses there. We talk every day, because I'm interested in what he's doing. But I've also tried to stay away from it. I don't want to be influencing him one way or the other. If he had a question, I'd be glad to answer it.”

One big difference between being an assistant trainer and being a trainer?

“It's a whole lot easier to sign the back of a check than the front of a check,” Reeve McGaughey acknowledged. And winning? “It's almost more of a relief, to be honest,” he said with a laugh. “I think you stress out so much about every one.”

Each start with each horse means so much financially and otherwise to a small stable, perhaps even more when a trainer is trying to get established.

“You put a lot into each horse going into each race,” Reeve McGaughey said. “Maybe you stress a little more because you don't have three more to run the next day to make up for that one. So yeah, it feels good when they run well.”

Shug McGaughey, who won the 2013 Kentucky Derby with Orb, said he hopes his son learned from him. “But I think he's done a lot and put a lot into it himself to try to get this stuff figured out,” he said. “As he goes along, obviously he's going to figure more and more out.

“One of the good things about him is he's patient. He knows when to go and when to stop, and he's not afraid to do that. When I first started, I probably was a little hesitant on the stopping part of it. But he's not.”

The elder McGaughey said it was clear early on that Reeve would become a trainer.

“I talked to him about getting a job in the racing office, just to learn that part,” Shug said. “He said, 'No, I want to train horses.' It's been on his mind since he was a teenager. When he first started, I said, 'You know, you've got to learn from the bottom up.' And that's what he's done.

“He's put a lot, a lot of time into it. As a father, I wish he had more time to himself. But that's not the way this game is. He understands that. He enjoys being at the barn. That's what he likes to do, and he's not afraid to work. Hopefully it will start paying off for him.”

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‘A Dream Come True’ As Keith James Asmussen Rides First Winner

You couldn't have witnessed a prouder moment than that of Hall of Fame trainer, Steve Asmussen and his wife Julie watching their first born son, Keith James Asmussen, ride his first winner in the nightcap at Lone Star Park in Grand Prairie, Texas, on Sunday.

Sunday was Stars of Texas Day featuring two $75,000 stakes races celebrating Texas-bred horses, but the most exciting race of the day was the finale when Keith won by just a head at the wire aboard Inis Gulaire. The entire place erupted in screams and cheers, more than witnessed here in recent memory.

Keith rode his first race at Lone Star on June 15, and had ridden a total of sixteen races finishing 2nd four times and third twice. It wasn't until race number 17 that he finally caught the elusive victory.

A beaming Keith was almost speechless after the win but managed to get out an excited, “It's a dream come true.” He then added, “You know Lone Star has been open for 24 years and I'm 22. My earliest memories are of coming here, so to get a win here is just surreal.”

Inis Gulaire, a 3-year-old son of Bernardini is trained by his father, Steve who said, “You know the amazing horses we've had and how blessed we've been, this is the greatest win we've ever had.”

After the celebration's finally wrapped up in the winner's circle fellow jockeys scooped Keith up in their arms and marched him to the paddock for a dip in the fountain, a tradition here for a rider's first win at Lone Star.

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Bloom: ‘Hard To Come Up With Enough Adjectives’ For Midnight Bisou

Midnight Bisou, last year's Eclipse Award-champion Older Dirt Female, has given owner Jeff Bloom plenty of special memories.

The 5-year-old bay daughter of Midnight Lute boasts a resume which consists of 13 graded stakes victories over eight different racetracks and over $7 million in lifetime earnings.

Her sensational career will continue Saturday when she seeks back-to-back victories in the Grade 1, $500,000 Personal Ensign presented by NYRA Bets at Saratoga in Saratoga Springs, N.Y.

Trained by Hall of Famer Steve Asmussen, Midnight Bisou will attempt a sixth Grade 1 victory in the Personal Ensign having won all five of her triumphs at such caliber over five different surfaces.

As a 3-year-old, Midnight Bisou won the Grade 1 Santa Anita Oaks while conditioned by West Coast-based Bill Spawr before being transferred to Asmussen following a third in the Grade 1 Kentucky Oaks. Three starts later, she picked up a victory in the Grade 1 Cotillion at Parx Racing en route to a third in the Grade 1 Breeders' Cup Distaff.

At age 4, she came back bigger and stronger and put together an Eclipse Award-winning campaign which consisted of Grade 1 victories in the Apple Blossom at Oaklawn, Ogden Phipps at Belmont and last year's Personal Ensign. This year, Midnight Bisou has not appeared to have lost any luster having displayed a game inside-closing effort in the inaugural $20 million Saudi Cup in February and last out won the Grade 2 Fleur de Lis at Churchill Downs by 8 ¼ lengths.

“Steve couldn't be happier with how well she's doing,” said Bloom, who owns Midnight Bisou in partnership with Madaket Stables and Allen Racing. “She's been remarkable from the get-go, and it's just amazing that she continues to show that. She actually has more to show us.”

Initially slated to go through the sales ring at the Fasig-Tipton November Sale last year, Bloom withdrew his superstar mare from the sale to keep her in training for a 5-year-old campaign.

“We talked about it a lot, but we had made the decision prior to the Breeders' Cup that we would go ahead and campaign her another year and enjoy the ride. Fortunately, it's worked out well and she's already rewarded us substantially,” Bloom said.

Midnight Bisou will attempt to become the first back-to-back winner of the Personal Ensign since champion Beautiful Pleasure (1999-'00). She won last year's running in dramatic fashion, battling through the final furlong with Elate before getting her nose on the wire first and registering a career-best 104 Beyer Speed Figure.

“Talk about a lot of sweat and anxiety waiting out the stretch run and the photo finish which seemed to last forever,” Bloom said. “From a fan's perspective, what an incredible race to watch between two competitive fillies battling it out down the stretch. To end up on the right end of the photo finish was both relief and excitement.”

Never off the board in 21 lifetime starts, Midnight Bisou will be looking to not only defend her title in the Personal Ensign but secure a second Eclipse Award in what is a highly competitive division.

“She's been incredibly consistent throughout her entire career and she's showing us that she's improving,” Bloom said. “It's hard to come up with enough adjectives to describe what kind of a racehorse she is and what she's meant to our family.”

Despite her highly competitive nature on the track, Midnight Bisou is quite gentle around the barn, which Bloom says is one of many reasons why she is so special.

“It's such a perfect combination,” Bloom said. “It's like as soon as she puts her boxing gloves on, she's ready to go in the ring and she's focused. She just knows what she's supposed to do. But around the barn she loves the attention, the love, the affection and she is just so sweet. She's an absolute pleasure to be around.”

Bloom went on to speak of multiple stakes winner Snapper Sinclair, who breezed five furlongs over Saratoga's Oklahoma turf course Sunday morning in 1:03.75. The son of City Zip is possible for action at the Spa this meet, but Bloom said that the primary target is a repeat win in the Tourist Mile at Kentucky Downs on September 7.

Snapper Sinclair has shown an affinity for the all-turf course having won the Fasig-Tipton Turf Showcase Juvenile during his 2-year-old campaign.

“He'll stay there and train at Saratoga,” Bloom said. “We'll go for a third victory at Kentucky Downs if we can get it done with him. Whether or not he runs at Saratoga prior to the Kentucky Downs meet is still up in the air.

A veteran of 26 starts, the 5-year-old Snapper Sinclair has won on both dirt and turf with his only stakes wins taking place at Kentucky Downs. He has placed four times against graded stakes company on dirt and has accumulated $1,234,760 in earnings.

“He's a millionaire but he's kind of done it the hard way,” Bloom said. “He's got such a large personality. He has that striking white face. He's just a fun and exciting horse.”

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Breeders’ Cup Presents Connections: Scaling The Mountain Isn’t For ‘The Faint Of Heart’

The standings at any given track are certainly not the end-all, be-all when it comes to measuring a trainer's performance with racehorses. That said, the current standings at West Virginia's Mountaineer Park present a compelling picture of an up-and-coming young trainer who has finally earned a chance to show what he can do.

Ben Delong has saddled 14 winners from 46 starters at Mountaineer this year, placing him second in the standings behind Jay Bernardini, who has 15 wins from 133 starts. The 34-year-old Delong is in the middle of a career year, despite the pandemic, posting his highest-ever earnings and poised to eclipse his highest number of winners.

“I'm on a hot streak right now, but I'll be honest with you, I'm just feeding faster horses,” Delong said, laughing. “I had some new owners who did well at the end of last year, and they started sending me new horses. I used to have 15 to 20 horses, and now I have 45 to 50. It's just having the quality of horses and going where I think they're going to be live.”

Delong isn't stabled at Mountaineer in New Cumberland, W.Va., but instead bases his operation at the Ashwood Training Center in Lexington, Ky. Being at Ashwood allows Delong to be hands-on with the horses from the first time they wear a saddle all the way to the winner's circle, and everything in between. He even drives the trailer hauling the horses to the races, more often than not.

“I'm just not suited for a nine-to-five (kind of job),” he said. “I guess I'm on the five-to-nine schedule instead.”

Perhaps the biggest win of his career came last fall at Churchill Downs, when Delong saddled A Girl Named Jac to win a maiden special weight event at odds of 17-1. The filly was his first winner beneath the Twin Spires.

A $5,500 yearling purchase at the Keeneland September sale in 2018, the Ontario-bred daughter of Point of Entry was sent to Delong to be started under saddle. He liked the filly from the start, so when the owners approached him in 2019 about training her in exchange for an ownership stake, Delong agreed.

“I took her on a deal because I liked the horse, and because I only had about eight horses at the time, so I was more than willing to jump on it,” he explained. “She turned out to be a pretty decent little horse.”

A Girl Named Jac finished third in her debut at Indiana Grand on Nov. 1, then returned to win the Churchill race in mid-November. In February, Delong and the other partners sold her at OBS for $75,000.

It was a big deal for the long-time gallop hand to prove he could both see and develop a horse's potential, not only to the outside world, but to himself as well. Delong never got the opportunity to be an assistant under a big-name trainer, or to learn the art of training through any of the more traditional methods.

Instead, he was raised around the backside of Fairmount Park in Illinois by his father, a former jockey. Delong wanted to travel as soon as he was able, so he left his home track at 17 to work the circuit between Prairie Meadows in Iowa, Remington Park in Oklahoma, and Oaklawn Park in Arkansas. Delong galloped for different trainers, freelancing early on, and eventually picked up a salary job for Wayne Catalano.

Things changed when he and his fiancée, Cassie Corvin, had a daughter in 2009. Delong knew he needed to stabilize his lifestyle, and in 2011 he made the move to Lexington and got a job galloping for Kellyn Gorder. He kept freelancing on the side as well, and it was one of those freelance mounts, a horse named Compromisin I'mnot, that drew Delong into the training business.

The owner was looking to move the mare and wound up giving her to Delong. He took out his trainer's license, and Compromisin I'mnot gave him his first winner in 2013 at the now-defunct Beulah Park. In all, the mare ran in-the-money 12 out of 14 starts, and Delong knew he wanted to keep training.

Without an assistant position on the horizon, however, Delong started out training a few cheap horses of his own while galloping full-time. He would run them wherever he thought they could do well, often shipping out of town to do so.

“It's easier to ship and know you're going to get a check,” Delong said. “I'll never turn my back on the little small tracks. I'm obviously from one, I never look down on them.”

It took until 2018 for Delong to eclipse $100,000 in earnings; he won 20 races that year.

“I definitely had to learn by trial and error,” said Delong. “I was a very stubborn individual as I got into it, but as I got older, I realized asking for help is not a bad thing. Though, if it wasn't for being so stubborn, I probably would have chosen a different path!

“I guess you could say I worked under dad, because he taught me all I know about horses. He's pretty sharp with horses, since he trained and was a jockey, and he galloped for a lot of years for a lot of people. When I've got a question I don't know the answer to, he's my go-to guy.”

Though his father is now semi-retired at age 65, he still lives at Ashwood and helps out when he can. Delong racing remains a family operation, through-and-through; Delong's fiancée works Saturdays and Sundays at a hospital in Elizabethtown as a radiology technician, and she gets up early Monday mornings to help exercise horses at Ashwood.

“I couldn't do it without her,” Delong said. “We had plans to get married before COVID hit, but we put them on the back burner. We're gonna make a date soon enough, but we both have plans for the future and neither one of us is going anywhere; that piece of paper isn't going to change our life or our commitment.”

Delong also has a trusted assistant, Sherman Mitchell, whose 23-year-old son, Austin “Worm” Mitchell, is learning to be a groom and helps haul horses to the races when Delong has other commitments. (Worm earned his nickname because as a young boy he loved fishing so much that he used to carry worms around in his pockets.)

“He wanted to move forward and do like I did, working side by side with his dad,” Delong said of the younger Mitchell, now his barn foreman. “I can really rely on him. He goes above and beyond anything I could ask him to do, and he definitely wants to make sure the horses are where they need to be.”

Despite the pandemic and its effect on racing this year, things are looking up for Delong in 2020. He remains committed to the game because he loves the horses, but he admits there were times it wasn't easy to keep making his way to the track every morning.

“The racetrack is a very hard game,” Delong said. “It's not for the faint of heart, and you have to be willing to do a lot of going without to get where you want to be. Everybody wants to be able to move to the top of the game, but I'm a day-by-day kind of guy. Obviously I've got to deal with what I've got in front of me, and when I've got that kind of horse to go to that level, I'll be ready for it.”

At the end of the day, he just wants to provide a better life for his daughter, who hopes to be a marine biologist.

“Hopefully I can give her more than I had,” Delong said.

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