Bill Couch Named Gulfstream Park Director of Racing/Racing Secretary
As a former military policeman serving near the Demilitarized Zone in Viet Nam, Bill Couch learned something about pressure and law enforcement.
As Director of Racing and Racing Secretary at Thistledown and now at Gulfstream Park, he knows something about the pressure of enforcing Murphy’s Law.
Bill Murphy is the Gulfstream Park President and General Manager as well as Thistledown Vice President. A proponent of large fields, every now and then Mr. Murphy will reach into his motivational toolbox and tell racing-office staff, “Eight horses in a race is a failure.”
Mr. Couch has heard his longtime boss say it over and over.
“That will be our mantra in the Gulfstream Park racing office,” he said. “Field size is an important factor in the success of a race meet. The fans want big fields and at a racetrack such as Gulfstream Park we should have little problem providing that. We expect the average field size to approach ‘10.’”
Mr. Couch called gaining the job at Gulfstream Park “very exhilarating, a dream come true.”
His first taste of Gulfstream came last winter when, while taking a leave from Thistledown, he helped fill the entry box from Palm Meadows, Gulfstream Park’s training facility in Boynton Beach.
“I got to meet some of the guys and I think I was able to develop some pretty strong relationships,” he said.
His involvement with the sport began in 1962 when his dad, a trucker whose run included stops at the racetrack, helped get him a job walking horses for trainer Jim Keefer at Old Randall Park in Cleveland. It was a 2½-mile bike ride for the then 12-year-old.
“Once you get to the track, that’s it,” he said. “You’re hooked.”
He worked his way up the ladder, first as an assistant, then as a trainer in his own right, saddling horses in Ohio, Pennsylvania, Kentucky and Florida.
He also took business-management courses at Cleveland St., but his formal education ended with his draft into the Viet Nam War. He served there from 1971-’72.
“Pressure in the racing office? No, pressure is laying in a bunker near the DMZ wondering if I could get home healthy and in time to bet the next Derby winner,” he said.
He ended his tour in April, ’72, getting home in time to bet the next month’s Kentucky Derby winner, Riva Ridge. He returned to training and two years later took advantage of an opportunity that would lead to a career highlight: He purchased a horse named I Never for $200 and together they went on to win 10 races together.
“Once finished second at 87-1, coming off a 110-day layoff,” Mr. Couch said.
CQ Jr. provided more memories. That horse had suffered a broke coffin bone by the time he came to Mr. Couch, but he won his first start after 18 months of convalescence and training.
Mr. Couch had a string of 10 horses at the time, most of them owned by Frank Patterniti. When Mr. Patterniti passed away in the late ‘70s, his widow chose to liquidate the stable.
Mr. Couch then became a jockey agent, representing well-known riders such as Antonio Graell and Tony D’Amico, then called charts for the Daily Racing Form at Thistledown and old Erie Downs, and even served as a public handicapper, picking horses for The News-Herald in Willoughby, Ohio. One of his proudest successes was besting longtime friend, fellow handicapper and popular Cleveland-area turf writer Bob Roberts in a public handicapping contest.
“I especially like talking about that,” he said.
Mr. Couch began his career in the racing office in 1988. He and his wife, Phyllis, reside in Bainbridge, Ohio. Mr. Couch has a daughter, Sarah, and three grandchildren: Christopher, 12; Zaq, 7, and Kaya, 5.
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