Kathleen O. on the way back and my 3-year-old daughter Start up can find the way to Racecourse Saratoga before summer ends. However, not for running.
Hall of Fame coach Shug McGaughey said Kathleen O., who hasn’t raced since finishing fifth in the Longines Kentucky Oaks (G1), has resumed training at the Hall of Fame. Churchill Downs.
“She’s doing well,” McGaughey said outside her coop on the Oklahoma Training Road. “She had a respite; we just wanted to give her a break. There’s nothing wrong with her.”
If Kathleen O. comes north, she’ll train here, not race. McGaughey says a long-range target for her could be Comely Stakes (G3) at Aqueduct race track in late autumn.
Kathleen O is owned by Pat Kearney’s Winngate Stable, 84 years old.
A golf friend of McGaughey’s for 20 years, Kearney asked his friend how he could get into racing. And the story begins in 2021. Two horses have been purchased: the first is Kathleen O., named for Kearney’s wife. The second one is a pony named Cloudythe son of Sublime Mission .
Kathleen O. won her first four starts against the Kentucky Oaks. After two grueling efforts as a 2-year-old at Churchill Downs, McGaughey made a stop on Cloudy. He came back on June 20 at Indianapolis horseshoe and won the first special weight class event to go a mile on grass, setting a record of 1:33.19.
“He won and set the record,” said McGaughey. “Not a course record. A record. He’s got two horses and they’ve started eight times and won five races. That’s not bad!”
