McLaughlin was born in an area of the country where horse racing and breeding is preeminent. One of his childhood friends was the son of trainer James Burchell and his first job was as a hotwalker.[2] He was a student at the University of Kentucky for a year before he decided focus on pursuing a career in the Thoroughbred horse racing industry. He spent close to three years as an assistant for various trainers before going to work for U.S. Racing Hall of Fame trainer, D. Wayne Lukas in 1985. In 1992 he became the agent for jockey Chris Antley, a job he held until November 1993 when he signed on as the trainer for Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum in Dubai. He was leading trainer in Dubai three times and has campaigned multiple graded stakes winners.
Kiaran McLaughlin, his wife and their two children currently reside in Garden City on Long Island, New York. He is famously quoted for saying: "My first job in life is to be a parent."
Kiaran's eldest daughter, Rachel, is currently the thoroughbred racing analyst at Indiana Downs[3]
Career
For ten years, Kiaran McLaughlin spent half of each year working in Dubai and half in the New York City area. In both locations he trained horses for Sheikh Mohammed and his brother, Sheikh Hamdan. He was the leading trainer at Dubai's Nad Al Sheba Racecourse on three occasions: 1994–95, 1995–96 and 2002–2003. In 1995, he shipped Dumaani to Japan and won the $1.5 million Keio Hai Spring Cup at Tokyo Racecourse at odds of 56–1.[2]
In 2015, McLaughlin trained Frosted, owned by his oldest client Sheikh Mohammed, to victories in the Wood Memorial and Pennsylvania Derby, also finishing second to American Pharoah in the Belmont Stakes. The following year, Frosted won the Met Mile at Belmont and the Whitney in Saratoga.[1]
The Daily Racing Form reported in March 2020 that McLaughlin, who had ended his training operations in New York a few months prior, would stop training horses in April and become a jockey agent once again, representing Luis Saez.[4]