Hollywood and Horsepower Show with Mark Otto 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.
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