The Queen’s Arrival

Editor's note: This year marks 50 years since the founding of Bloodstock Research Information Systems, a company that revolutionized data in horse racing and breeding and which was instrumental in the founding of the Thoroughbred Daily News. This article by Brisnet's Vance Hanson and the photos included have been republished with their permission.

Harry Herbert arrived to work at Bloodstock Research Information Services one day in early 1984 with something surprising to tell company founder and president Richard “Dick” Broadbent III, and asked the secretary if he could see Broadbent. The secretary got back to Herbert and said Broadbent would let him know.

“I said, 'It's quite important,' and she said, 'I don't think I'll be quite brave enough to tell him that,'” Herbert said.

A larger-than-life character with the reputation for a mercurial temperament, Broadbent was soon on the office intercom and, in mildly colorful language, demanded Herbert come see him. The greeting when Herbert arrived in Broadbent's office was similar in tone.

“'You really don't know much about me,'” Herbert recalled telling Broadbent. “'My dad is quite a well-known person in racing in the U.K., and he also manages the Queen's horses and is her closest friend.' (Broadbent) went ballistic. He thought I was literally taking the piss out of him.

“I said, 'No, Mr. Broadbent, it's true. (The Queen) wants to come to Kentucky and see where I work–to see what you've done here, and what you've achieved.'

“Bit by bit, this terrifying, huge man disintegrated. He sort of shrank in front of my eyes. He literally became a different person. It was quite extraordinary.”

Among the undisputed highlights of Brisnet's 50-year history was the visit from Queen Elizabeth II to its Lexington, Kentucky, offices on Oct. 10, 1984, an event that likely wouldn't have happened at any other time if not for the mutual connection of Harry Herbert.

Herbert, 62, has worn and continues to wear many hats in the racing and breeding industry, most notably as chairman and managing director of Highclere Thoroughbreds. Herbert is the second son of the late Seventh Earl of Carnarvon, who viewers of the Netflix miniseries “The Crown” would recognize as the Queen's life-long friend and racing manager Lord Porchester (“Porchy”).

“I started following my dad's horses in my very early 20s, and he saw I was getting interested (in racing),” Herbert said. “It was a dormant gene, where you suddenly wanted to learn more. You want to see the horses train in the morning. I used to go with him to Major Dick Hern's yard. I suppose that's what really got me going.

“I was working in the City (London's financial district) for a stockbroking company. It wasn't doing it for me, and ideally I wanted to be an actor. That wasn't really going to happen.”

Possessing a U.S. passport and dual citizenship, via his American-born mother, Herbert was encouraged by jockey Steve Cauthen, who by then had shifted his tack to England, to pursue an industry career in the U.S., rather than be a “daddy's boy” at home. With prominent horsemen George Strawbridge and Russell Jones Jr. serving as intermediaries, Herbert eventually secured interviews with Bloodstock Research and with Santa Anita.

“I heard right before Christmas I got both jobs I had applied for. (It was) Incredibly exciting,” Herbert said. “I decided on Kentucky, and I still don't quite know why. (It was) sort of a gut feeling to go to Lexington versus Santa Anita, which is a very weird decision.”

Although he drew Broadbent's ire by unknowingly arriving late to work on his first day, Herbert soon relished the day-to-day opportunities and access to pedigree information afforded to him in his new position. In particular, the ability to computer generate an analysis between certain stallions and mares for genetic compatibility proved a boon, both professionally and personally.

“I was told when I left Eton College–I wasn't the best academic by a long stretch–but my master told me, 'The one thing we've set you up for in life, Harry Herbert, is how to write a letter.' And so, when I joined Bloodstock Research, I started writing letters to those people who wanted their mares mated and put through the system. I guess I could write a half-decent letter, and suddenly the business began to go really well. People started hearing about it. Arthur Hancock came in, (along with) Nelson Bunker Hunt.

“All sorts of people wanted this service, and I would stay pretty late in the evenings, because I so wanted to study all of my father's pedigrees and why he'd done the matings he'd done over the years. One of those great moments was calling him up and saying, 'Now I know why you made this mating.' He couldn't believe it, as I sort of dissected every pedigree.”

Duly impressed with what he was hearing from his son across the pond, it was natural to expect Lord Porchester would share this information with the Queen.

“My father called me up and said, 'I was talking to the Queen and I thought she might be interested to come to Kentucky and see the stud farms and to see it all for the first time. Maybe you can help organize it. She definitely wants to see how the whole computer thing works and what you're doing on the pedigree,'” Herbert said.

To read the rest of this story on www.brisnet.com, click here.

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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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Letter From Royal Ascot…From New York: Day 2

Are you lucky enough to be a real fan of the industry you live and work in? I am.

And my new hero is Ian Bartlett. Never met the chap, but he

is a well traveled race commentator for more than 31 years, with stints in his native England for the BBC, and for

races in Ireland, France and Dubai. And now he is the voice of Royal Ascot.

I urge you to listen to his outstanding race calls at The Royal meeting, which is just a five-day stand through this Saturday. He is announcing the races just for you, just for the television audience at home.

It is a far different call from what you hear whilst watching at the track, where you have your binoculars trained on the field, or listening to the radio.

What is so terrific about Ian’s descriptions is that he identifies in his call the horses, as many as 30 in some races, by the obvious colors of the silks the rider is wearing. In addition to the placement of the runners, the margins between horses, their on-course positions inside, outside or between rivals, and sometimes even their rank in the betting ring from big gamble favorites to extreme longshots. For those of us at home, he tells us exactly where the steed or steeds we are rooting for actually are as the event unfolds.

No need for the ‘chicklets’ at the bottom of the screen that we get used to from some tracks.

On Day 2 of the Royal Meeting, Bartlett described how the lead changed among three runners in the final furlong of The Hampton Court S. Berlin Tango (GB) (Dansili {GB}) tussled with First Receiver (GB) (New Approach {Ire}) and looked like a winner. But First Receiver inched forward to get his head in front just as Russian Emperor (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) swooped down at the wire to win. It was such a great timing job, that I believe if Ryan Moore would have ridden either of the other two horses in that final eighth of a mile, he would have won, no matter which of the three he rode. That was his 60th winner at Royal Ascot, a testament to his great ability to know where that finish line is, and how much horse he has left.

In The Windsor Castle S. I think Mr. Bartlett had to zero in on Tactical (GB) (Toronado {Ire}) because he was the sentimental favorite of the entire day, owned by the 94-year-old monarch of the United Kingdom, Queen Elizabeth II. A very popular victor.

In the feature, the G1 Prince of Wales’s S., I know many family members were watching, and not just from their homes. James Doyle won the race on Lord North (Ire) (Dubawi {Ire}). His sister, Sophie, is riding now in Kentucky. This family affair also includes Jacqueline Doyle, former show jumper, trainer par excellence and the mum of these two current excellent riders.

And a word about the time between races. Here we often hear trainers complain about running their horses with only weeks between engagements. May I point out that Russian Emperor (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) competed only eight days ago in a hundred grander Derby Trial at Leopardstown in Ireland.

And finally a personal memory. The most memorable race I ever saw was Secretariat (Bold Ruler) winning the 1973 GI Belmont S. After that, a distant number two is Dubai Millennium (Seeking The Gold) with Jerry Bailey aboard winning the 2000 edition of the Prince of Wales’s.

A lot to look forward to for the rest of the week, and a few more memories to be made for sure.

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