Even Marines Need a Hero

by Matt Koch

Editor's Note: In honor of Veterans Day and the 247th birthday of the United States Marine Corps (USMC), celebrated Nov. 11 and Nov. 10, respectively, we are honored to share this story from USMC Captain Matt Koch of Shawhan Place, a second-generation Marine following his father, longtime Claiborne Farm manager Robert “Gus” Koch. Matt, who will be honored next month as the 2022 Ted Bates Farm Manager of the Year by the Kentucky Thoroughbred Farm Managers' Club (KTFMC), is also the state representative of the 72nd district (Bourbon, Nicholas, and Fleming Counties).

Even Marines need a hero. Mine is David Pope. David is quiet, he goes to church every Sunday, and he works for a Thoroughbred farm in Bourbon County. His wife Kym works at the local extension office, and to put it simply, they are just good people. Good people who have done something extraordinary. David stepped up and donated a kidney to a man in another state whom he had never met. I don't think I can tell this story without first starting with my father's journey.

My father received his final orders last year after a long, hard fight with kidney cancer. USMC Sergeant Gus Koch proudly served in Vietnam from 1966-67. Thirty years later, he was diagnosed with kidney cancer and that started the fight that continued for the next 25 years. Whether it was the Agent Orange or the drinking water at Camp Lejeune, we don't know for sure. Dad had a kidney removed, faced multiple rounds of chemo, had brain tumors and stomach tumors. We moved up countless family weddings and anniversary celebrations because doctors told us Dad wouldn't make it six more months. The Marine in him wouldn't stop. He saw all 10 of his children graduate college, get married, and start families.

It wasn't long after Dad passed away that I learned the story of one of my Marines from Afghanistan. Corporal Chris Kilpatrick and I worked in the S-2 (intelligence) shop together. On Oct. 31, 2019, Chris had been diagnosed with Polycystic Kidney Disease (PKD). He was in end-stage renal failure and in urgent need of a transplant.

PKD is normally an inherited disease, but in this case, it was due to the toxic exposures to the burn pits which we were exposed to in Iraq and Afghanistan. There is no cure, and the only option is a kidney transplant.

Chris's story hit me pretty hard. I started the donation process. Many others also started the process and were weeded out. In January, 2022 I shared the post about Chris on Facebook. I didn't say anything about Dad or the back story. Unbeknownst to me, a friend of my father, David Pope, saw the post and felt the call to action. Just a month prior, while attending Christmas Eve mass with his family in Ohio, David had heard a sermon about giving of yourself. He prayed for an opportunity that he may have that chance. The Popes didn't realize that something would come along so soon. When David and Kym saw the Facebook post they thought maybe they should give it a try, with the thought that there was no way he would match. He started the process and passed stage 1. He continued the journey and passed again.

David ended up being such a good match that the doctors said it was almost like they were brothers. He traveled several times from Kentucky to Florida for a man he never met and to make a major life decision. He was going to give Chris a kidney.

When David called to tell me he was going to be the donor, I shed a few tears. You see, he had been friends with my father. They shared common bonds of being in the horse industry and served in the Knights of Columbus together at the Church of the Annunciation in Paris. He didn't know that Dad's cancer was service related.

Far too often veterans believe we live on an island. We can rest easy knowing that good men and women like David Pope have our backs. David, we salute you for having our backs when times were bad. Gunny Brossette, our Intel Shop Staff NCO (Noncommissioned Officer), said it best: “David, although you were never in uniform, you saved the life of one of our Marines and that, sir, makes you one of us for life.”

David and Chris are both recovering and doing well.

Happy Birthday, Marines!

Semper Fi, David.

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Matthew Koch Named KY Farm Manager of the Year

The Kentucky Thoroughbred Farm Managers' Club (KTFMC) has chosen Shawhan Place's Matthew Koch as the 2022 Ted Bates Farm Manager of the Year. The honor is given annually to a farm manager “who has demonstrated quality and success in their management role; service to the community; involvement in the KTFMC; and industry leadership and dedication.”

“I am thrilled to hear Matthew has won this prestigious award,” said Teddy Kuster, co-owner of Shawhan Place and the 1986 KTFMC Farm Manager of the Year. “The club has meant a lot to Matt's entire family and all of us at Shawhan Place. Matt is a wonderful individual who wears many hats. He's a farm manager working in the trenches and has given back to his community by serving on several boards. He serves as State Representative for 72nd District (Bourbon, Nicholas, and Fleming County) and was instrumental in passing HHR for the industry… Even more important than raising horses, Matthew raises the next generation of young horsemen and women. He is a mentor to many and regularly hosts interns from both KEMI and the University of Kentucky.”

A graduate of both the University of Kentucky and the Kentucky Horseshoeing School, Koch is also a former United States Marine captain and served his country in Afghanistan and Kosovo. In 2006, Koch and Kuster formed Shawhan Place, which now breeds about 100 mares a year.

Among the boards Koch has served on are Kentucky Equine Management Internship (KEMI), the Consignors and Commercial Breeders Association (CBA), and the Kentucky Thoroughbred Association (KTA). He has previously been the president, vice-president, director, and treasurer of the KTFMC.

Koch is a second-generation KTFMC Farm Manager of the Year, as his late father, Gus Koch, was awarded the title in 2004. The pair join B.G. Hughes and Scooter Hughes as the only father/son recipients of the award. Koch currently resides in Bourbon County with his wife, Kristen, and their three children Taylor, Jack, and Nate.

The KTFMC will be hosting its annual dinner dance to honor Koch at The Carrick House in Lexington Dec. 2. A silent auction will be held with all proceeds benefitting The Horse Farm Workers' Educational Assistance Fund. Tickets and sponsorships for the event will be available for purchase at ktfmc.org later this month.

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Respected Kentucky Horseman Robert ‘Gus’ Koch, 74, Passes

Robert “Gus” Koch, 74, died Saturday, March 20, 2021, at his beloved Mt. Carmel Farm near Cynthiana, Ky., after a 24-year battle with cancer.

He is survived by his wife of 50 years, Theresa, t10en children: Charles (Katie) Koch, Jennifer (Drew) Alvarez, Becky (Mark) Mitchell, Stephen (Wendy) Koch, Matthew (Kristen) Koch, Anthony (Jill) Koch, Amy (Brian) Sellers, Cecilia (Drew) Adams, Gus (Shelley) Koch, and Mary (Bryan) Flachbart, 33 grandchildren and two foster grandchildren.

Gus was a Marine, Vietnam veteran, and retired manager of Claiborne Farm.  As a parishioner at the Church of the Annunciation, he faithfully led the Rosary before Saturday evening Mass for nearly 40 years, was a past Grand Knight of The Knights of Columbus (4th degree), and was past president of the Parish Council.

Gus proudly served the Kentucky Thoroughbred Farm Managers' Club as president in 1987 and was honored by that group as the 2004 Farm Manager of the Year. He was also a past member of both the Bourbon County School Board and the Bourbon Community Hospital Board.

Visitation will be Tuesday, March 23, 5-8 p.m. at the Church of the Annunciation in Paris with Rosary preceding at 4:45 p.m.  Rev. Daniel Fister will celebrate the Mass of Christian Burial at the church Wednesday, March 24, at 10 a.m. and live streamed on www.facebook.com/paris.cdlex. Interment will follow at Mt. Olivet Cemetery, Paris.  His sons and sons-in-law will serve as pall bearers.

In lieu of flowers, donations are suggested to The Horse Farm Workers' Educational Assistance Fund (www.horsefarmworkerseducationfund.com) or Church of the Annunciation Building Fund (1007 Main St., Paris, KY, 40361).

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Longtime Claiborne Manager Gus Koch Dies at 74

Robert “Gus” Koch, died Saturday, March 20, 2021, at his beloved Mt. Carmel Farm, after a 24-year battle with cancer. He was 74.

The retired longtime manager of Claiborne Farm, Koch was a Marine and a Vietnam veteran.

Koch was the subject of one of the TDN and Keeneland's Life's Work Oral History project, and Chris McGrath's story on him may be read here.

Hired when Seth Hancock took the reins at the farm, Koch was at the helm at Claiborne for 31 years, running perhaps the best lineup of stallions ever assembled. “Secretariat, of course, was the hype name for non-horse people,” Koch told McGrath in 2019. “Then we had Danzig, Mr. Prospector, and Nijinsky. Sir Ivor, Damascus. The stallions we had in that barn were just unbelievable.”

Koch grew up on a gain farm north of Cincinnati. HIs father wrote for periodicals on agriculture as well as on horse racing and auctions.

“We always had riding horses,” Koch said. “My first was a former lead pony from River Downs. Horse named Billy. I loved that horse. My dad just loved racing and we were always at the Keeneland sales, or at the old Latonia, or at a fair meet.”

He volunteered for the Marine Corps when he graduated at High School at 18 in 1966, and was sent to Vietnam in July of that year. He was stationed in Da Nang, and was honorably discharged at the end of his service. His son Matthew also served in the Marines as an intelligence officer.

His first job in the racing industry was for Charles Kenney at Stoner Creek Farm, working on the feed truck. He was exposed to Standardbreds there, and started learning about equine reproduction while working with artificial insemination. After five years, he went to work for E. P. Taylor, at Oshawa, where he worked with Natalma, Northern Dancer and The Minstrel.

In 1977, he was approached by Seth Hancock at the suggestion of Stuart Janney.

“Seth needed somebody who could handle stallions, run a breeding shed, handle broodmares,” Koch told Chris McGrath. “Do the whole thing. I just looked him in the eye and said, 'Seth, I can do this. You want some references?' He said, 'No, I'm a pretty good judge of a man.' I never asked him what he'd pay me. He never asked me what I wanted. We shook hands because both of us knew it was the right thing to do.”

For years, Koch had the pleasure of showing off the most famous racehorse in the world, Secretariat, to the thousands of tourists and dignitaries who came to the farm to see him, including Queen Elizabeth. Koch told McGrath that she had arrived with a camera around her neck, just as all the others did.

“I'd be leaving the farm on a Saturday night, and here comes a vanload of people from Michigan,” Koch said to McGrath. “'We're closed.' 'Aw, we just drove all day. We just want to see the big red horse.' And I'd walk up there and show them Secretariat. That horse could load a camera. He loved to have his picture taken. One of the most photographed horses in history, I'm sure. He just never did a thing wrong: easy to breed, easy to handle, easy to keep his weight on.”

Koch retired in 2009.

“It's a sad day,” said Seth Hancock Saturday. “He was a whale of a man, not only was he a wonderful manager out here at the farm, but he was a wonderful father, wonderful husband, 10 kids, all of them solid citizens. Just a life well lived for sure. He was part of the family, which is a little bit unusual, because he was not from around here, he was from Ohio. He had worked a little bit at Stoner Creek Farm, but he came to us from Winfields, first in Canada, and then in Maryland.

“He wasn't a Kentucky basketball fan,” Hancock said with a laugh, “like everyone else around here is, but he quickly became part of the family just because of who he was, and the way that he lived his life and all the respect we all had for him.”

Dell Hanock recalled him similarly. “Gus was a fine person as well as a good horseman,” she said. “He was always upbeat and just delightful.”

As a parishioner at the Church of the Annunciation in Paris, Ky., he faithfully led the Rosary before Saturday evening mass for nearly 40 years, was a past Grand Knight of The Knights of Columbus (4th degree), and was past president of the Parish Council. Gus proudly served the Kentucky Thoroughbred Farm Managers' Club as president in 1987 and was honored by that group as the 2004 Farm Manager of the Year. He was also a past member of both the Bourbon County School Board and the Bourbon Community Hospital Board.

Visitation will be Tuesday, March 23, 5-8 p.m. at the Church of the Annunciation in Paris with Rosary preceding at 4:45 p.m. Rev. Daniel Fister will celebrate the Mass of Christian Burial at the church Wednesday, March 24, at 10 a.m. and live streamed on www.facebook.com/paris.cdlex. Interment will follow at Mt. Olivet Cemetery, Paris. His sons and sons-in-law will serve as pall bearers.

He is survived by his wife of 50 years, Theresa, and 10 children: Charles (Katie) Koch, Jennifer (Drew) Alvarez, Becky (Mark) Mitchell, Stephen (Wendy) Koch, Matthew (Kristen) Koch, Anthony (Jill) Koch, Amy (Brian) Sellers, Cecilia (Drew) Adams, Gus (Shelley) Koch, and Mary (Bryan) Flachbart, 33 grandchildren and two foster grandchildren.

All five of Koch's sons work in the Thoroughbred industry; Charles, at Lake Horse Transportation; Stephen, 1/ST; Matthew, Shawhan Place; Anthony, Hallway Feeds; Gus, Shawhan Place.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to The Horse Farm Workers' Educational Assistance Fund (www.horsefarmworkerseducationfund.com) or Church of the Annunciation Building Fund, 1007 Main St., Paris, KY, 40361

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