By Emily Shields, California Thoroughbred Shortly after Singletary crossed the wire first in the 2004 NetJets Breeders’ Cup Mile (gr. IT) at Lone Star Park, his cheering, chanting owners flooded the winner’s circle. Their $30,000 investment had just scored in a $1.5 million race, and their infectious enthusiasm was broadcast live on national television. The president of the Breeders’ Cup, D.G. Van Clief Jr., called it “the greatest single moment in Breeders’ Cup history.” For Billy Koch the win was nothing more than an exclamation point on what he already knew: Horse racing is supposed to be fun. “I feel that all of us lose perspective on how much fun we can have in our lives,” Koch said. “We’re allowed to have fun.” The search for fun is what led Koch, a self-professed “lifetime racetrack junkie and degenerate gambler,” to create his first partnership in 1991. The Versailles Racing Syndicate gave Koch a solid first experience in group ownership. “Over the next 10 years I just kept starting all these... ...
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