William P. Burch

William Burch
Occupation	Trainer / Owner
Born	1846 South Carolina, United States
Died	July 9, 1926
Career wins	Not found
Major racing wins
Monmouth Sequel Stakes (1872) Saratoga Sequel Stakes (1872) Spinaway Stakes (1885) Withers Stakes (1886) Matron Stakes (1902) Grand Union Hotel Stakes (1902) Saratoga Cup 1923 Uncas Handicap 1923 Maryland Handicap 1923 Saratoga Handicap (1924)
Honours
United States' Racing Hall of Fame (1963) W. P. Burch Memorial Handicap at Bowie Race Track
Significant horses
Biggonet, My Own

William Preston Burch (1846 - July 9, 1926) was an American Thoroughbred horse racing Hall of Fame trainer. A native of South Carolina, William Burch served as a courier in the Confederate States Army under Lieut. Gen. Wade Hampton III during the American Civil War. At war's end he became involved in the racing of American Quarter Horses at various fairgrounds in the Southern United States. In 1866 he embarked on a career as a professional trainer in Thoroughbred horse racing which led him to work at racetracks along the northeastern seaboard where for many years he owned, trained and raced horses for himself. Among those were Biggonet, who won important races at New York tracks including the 1885 Spinaway Stakes at Saratoga Race Course and the 1886 Withers Stakes at Jerome Park Racetrack. Beginning in the early 1890s Burch conditioned horses for owners such as Francis Hitchcock Samuel Ross, and Admiral Cary Grayson. [1]

While preparing horses for owners Cary Grayson and Samuel Ross at Saratoga Springs, New York in July 1926, eighty-year-old William Burch fell ill and was admitted to a private hospital where he died on July 9.

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