Howard W. Koch's Hollywood Legacy, Hollywood Park Memories, and Little Red Feather Racing with Billy Koch
Mark Otto talks with Billy Koch, grandson of Hollywood producer Howard W. Koch and founder of Little Red Feather Racing, about growing up at Hollywood Park, his family's ties to Casablanca, Airplane!, and Ghost, and his own path from a college racing syndicate to founding The Owner's Box podcast.
A Hollywood Royalty Connection
Mark Otto opens Hollywood and Horsepower by welcoming Billy Koch, grandson of producer Howard W. Koch and son of Hawk Koch, calling the family royalty in both Hollywood and horse racing. The conversation quickly turns to Casablanca, Otto's favorite film, and Koch explains his grandfather always used the middle initial so no one would confuse him with screenwriter Howard Koch, even wearing a hat reading "I didn't write Casablanca." Otto mentions his friendship with Michael Blowen of Old Friends, who once shared notes exchanged between Julius Epstein and Warner Brothers over the film's censorship. Koch runs through his grandfather's credits, noting he produced many Academy Award telecasts, won the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award, and is best remembered for producing Airplane! and Ghost, plus the Walter Matthau comedies including The Odd Couple. Otto and Koch agree Airplane! is a rare comedy that has only grown funnier with age, still making fun of everybody despite its brief, breezy runtime.
Growing Up At Hollywood Park
Koch describes Hollywood Park as his childhood home track, where his grandfather would pick him and his sister up on weekends to watch races from the directors' room, calling it a privilege he did not fully appreciate until the track closed. He recalls being at Hollywood Park when Seattle Slew lost to J.O. Tobin, a memory he says still bothers him decades later, and shares a story about running onto the mile oval as a twelve-year-old during reshoots for the Howard W. Koch production Let It Ride, only to quit at the clubhouse turn once the sandy surface proved tougher than expected. Otto and Koch trade affection for Cougar II, a longtime fixture at Kentucky racing events, and lament the string of lost California tracks, including Hollywood Park, Bay Meadows, and Golden Gate Fields. Koch keeps mementos from Hollywood Park, including a barn sign and a box-seat placard, while Otto owns saddle cloths of his own, and both agree the track's closing marked the end of an era unlike any other in racing.
Family's Horse Racing Roots
Koch traces the family's racing roots to his great-grandfather, also named Billy Koch, who worked as a bookie, a trade Koch jokes may have put racing in the family's blood before his grandfather ever got involved. Howard W. Koch kept horses including Doc Simon and, with actor Telly Savalas, a colt named Telly's Pop who won the two-year-old Western Triple Crown and was considered a Kentucky Derby contender before an injury ended his bid. Koch remembers Savalas, famous for playing Kojak, bringing bags of lollipops to the track and having young Billy hand them out to every woman he saw. His grandfather also owned horses with Walter Matthau under the name Billy Charlie Stables, named for Matthau's son Charlie, and jockeys would give his grandfather their whip whenever a horse broke its maiden, leaving the house full of them. Koch recalls being given twenty dollars by his grandfather at the track each weekend, losing his on daily doubles while his more disciplined sister kept hers, calling it proof he was hooked on the sport from the very start.
From Little Red Feather To Ownership
Koch explains how he built his own path into ownership after graduating from Northwestern in 1991 with no money but a clear goal, pooling funds with friends from a Cuban restaurant called Versailles to form the Versailles Racing Syndicate and buy a filly named No More Worries. He later ran small claiming funds for fun before friend and Metropolitan Theatres head Bruce Corwin loaned him money to buy horses with partner Don Chatlos, a group that in 2000 included a colt named Singletary. That purchase became the foundation of Little Red Feather, the fractional-ownership partnership Koch still runs, and Singletary rewarded the gamble by winning the 2004 Breeders' Cup Mile at Lone Star Park. Koch says Little Red Feather now counts roughly 500 active investors who trust the operation to find, place, and campaign horses responsibly, though he is candid that the business nearly did not survive the 2008 recession. He warns prospective partners the venture is not an investment vehicle but a way to spend disposable income on the experience of ownership.
The Business And Safety Of Racing
The conversation turns to the business and politics of the sport, with Koch describing himself as the president of CARMA, the California aftercare organization dedicated to finding retired racehorses safe second careers. Otto and Koch both push back on a recent New York Times article critical of racing's safety record, with Koch pointing to the advocacy group Light Up Racing's rebuttal and arguing that the numbers show the sport is safer than it has ever been, even as individual states still enforce inconsistent medication rules. They agree the sport is remarkably accessible compared with other professional leagues, since fans can speak directly with owners and trainers at the rail, but Koch warns that new wagering platforms such as FanDuel have pulled bettors away from the in-person, brick-and-mortar experience that built the sport's culture. Koch raises Florida's decoupling fight as a genuine threat to purses and the wider industry, while Otto compares racing's safety evolution to that of football and NASCAR, insisting most owners, trainers, and horsemen genuinely want what is best for the animals in their care.
Family Legacy And The Owner's Box
Koch shares that entertainment still runs through the family despite skipping his father's generation, naming two of his three sons, Cooper, who played Erik Menendez in Netflix's Monsters, and Payton, an Emmy-nominated editor on Only Murders in the Building now cutting Avatar: The Last Airbender, alongside a youngest son pursuing music as a singer-songwriter. He credits his grandfather, Howard W. Koch, with inventing bedtime stories about a fictional chief named Little Red Feather, which inspired the name of his racing partnership as a tribute after his grandfather's passing. Koch and Otto close by discussing The Owner's Box, the podcast Koch has hosted with Michelle Yu for roughly a decade to let owners, bloodstock agents, and veterinarians tell their own stories rather than letting trainers get all the credit. Koch says he runs the show purely to promote ownership and expects no income from it, while Otto praises the format's positivity. Both men reflect on perseverance, noting Cooper nearly quit acting before landing his breakout role, and Otto thanks Koch before closing with sponsor mentions and an invitation to visit a track.
