Longtime Horseman Gus Koch Dies at 74

Robert "Gus" Koch, the retired longtime manager of Claiborne Farm, died March 20 at his beloved Mt. Carmel Farm near Cynthiana, Ky., after a 24-year battle with cancer. He was 74.

Born in Cincinnati, Ohio in 1946, Koch was raised on a farm purchased by his late father, Charles Koch, who served as the editor of the Farm Quarterly and was also a freelance journalist. The younger Koch attended Miami University of Ohio and later joined the Marines and served in Vietnam. In addition to Claiborne, he worked at Stoner Creek Stud in Kentucky and in Canada and Maryland at Windfields Farm. He went to work at Claiborne in 1978.

"There is no one best memory, just the people and the horses," he told BloodHorse in 2009. "I've just had a dream position at Claiborne. Anybody in the horse business would have loved to have done what I have done."

During Koch's tenure, Claiborne stood such successful stallions as Danzig, Mr. Prospector, and Nijinsky II.

"I always did have a special place in my heart for Nijinsky II," Koch told BloodHorse. "I worked for E. P. Taylor, and (Nijinsky II) was born and raised in Canada. I worked for E. P. Taylor up there, and Nijinsky II's sire, Northern Dancer, was at Windfields in Maryland when I was in Maryland. Then I came to Claiborne, and Nijinsky II was there (standing at stud). … We spent a lot of time together. He was my boy."

Koch immediately impressed Seth Hancock, then president of the storied Hancock family operation.

"Obviously it's a sad day for all of us here at Claiborne," Hancock said Saturday. "Gus was kind of unique in that he was not from around here. He didn't follow Kentucky basketball or do all the things all the folks around here do, but he was quickly accepted because of the kind of man he was—the father he was, the husband he was, the work ethic he had, the respect all the men on the farm had for him.

"He was a Marine all the way. He dotted all the Is and crossed all the Ts and he wanted everything done a certain way and that's the way it was going to be. He had a good way about getting it done though, he wasn't heavy-handed. If you look at all of the success we enjoyed together over the years, his fingerprints were all over it." 

Koch 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, along with 33 grandchildren and two foster grandchildren.

As a parishioner at the Church of the Annunciation, Koch 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. He 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 held March 23 from 5:00-8:00 p.m. ET 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 at 10:00 a.m. March 24, which will be 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 pallbearers.

In lieu of flowers, donations are suggested to The Horse Farm Workers' Educational Assistance Fund or Church of the Annunciation Building Fund (1007 Main St., Paris, KY, 40361). Funeral arrangements were entrusted to the Lusk-McFarland Funeral Home, 1120 Main St., Paris, KY. The online guestbook is at www.Lusk-McFarland.com.