Former Hawera trainer Don Couchman is being remembered fondly by many in the racing community after he passed away late last month in Mt Maunganui aged 86.
Couchman, who trained for the best part of three decades, is known for Group One success with the likes of The Filbert, Cubacade, Kerry Lane and Pinson.
The Taranaki horseman began working as a stablehand in the late 1940s and also rode for a short time. He would later work as a school caretaker and at the Patea freezing works, before training full time.
Couchman rose to prominence as the trainer of Regal Band, who placed in the New Zealand 1000 Guineas (1600m) and two Avondale Gold Cups (2200m) in the late 70s. Regal Band also raced well at weight-for-age, winning the Awapuni Gold Cup (2000m) and the Harcourt Stakes (twice) at Trentham.
The patiently-handled stayer Cubacade, who won the Gr.1 Wellington Cup (3200m) in 1980 provided Couchman him with his first elite-level success.
Triple Group One winning sprinter Pinson and high-class weight-for-age galloper The Filbert would follow.
Pinson won the weight-for-age Lion Brown (Waikato) Sprint (1400m) at Te Rapa in 1983, as a three-year-old, less than five months after his race debut. He won six of his 10 starts at three but the Group One Te Rapa feature was his first stakes win and his first in open company.
He won two Group races as four-year-old, including the Gr.1 Railway (1200m) at Ellerslie and the following spring measured up to the leading sprinters at the Melbourne Spring carnival. He did not win in Melbourne but was runner-up in the Gr.1 Salinger Stakes (1200m) and had two Group Two placings. He recorded his third Group One win in the 1986 Jarden (Thorndon) Mile (1600m) at Trentham.
The Filbert won seven stakes races and was a Group One performer in three countries. He won the Gr.1 Air New Zealand Stakes (2000m) at Ellerslie in 1985 and the following spring recorded four successive Group One placings at the Melbourne carnival, before becoming the first New Zealand horse to be placed in a Japan Cup, when third.
Couchman was joined by Paul Belsham in a training partnership and the following year The Filbert finished third in what was dubbed the Race of the Century - the 1986 running of the Gr.1 Cox Plate (2040m) behind Bonecrusher and (Our) Waverley Star.
In those days, Australian racing did not recognise training partnerships, so The Filbert raced solely under Couchman's name.
“Don took me on as a partner because he was taking The Filbert to Aussie a fair bit and it worked out well that he could go over there and not have to worry about coming back and forth,” Belsham recalled.
“After the Cox Plate, The Filbert was entered for the Melbourne Cup and he pulled a shoe on the way to the races that morning and was late scratched. He came back to New Zealand and won the Gr.3 Waikato Gold Cup (2400m) and the Gr.2 Japan-International Trophy (1600m).
"We had some other really good ones at the time including The Bishop who won the then Bayer Classic (1600m), the Wanganui (1600m) and Wellington Guineas (1600m) and finished third in the New Zealand Derby (2400m). He was a pretty handy little horse.
“We had a couple of really good years there where he had The Filbert, The Bishop and Red Hawk, who was a half-brother to The Filbert who won the Benson & Hedges Gold Cup (2100m) and the Canterbury Gold Cup (2000m).”
Couchman also saddled Kerry Lane to win the 1986 Gr.1 Auckland Cup (3200m) and Brown Edition and Madame Bardot also made a mark in the 1980s, while Floodlight and Bush Ranger were notable jumpers from the stable.
Belsham said Couchman was known for his easy going nature.
“He was just such an easy going bloke. He had a great eye for a horse and never spent a lot of money on the horses that he bought,” he said.
“He seemed to be able to work them out and he was great at placing horses.
“He never got flustered about anything and he was one of the nicest guys you could meet and just fantastic to work for.”
Couchman would later train in partnership with son Neville for eight years in Cambridge, before his retirement, with Neville going on to achieve Group One success in a solo capacity with outstanding sprinter Gee I Jane. – NZ Racing Desk
