by Chris Lomon

The story of Zach Cougle is defined by a homecoming, a promise kept, and a love rekindled.

For Cougle, standardbred racing isn’t just a sport – it’s part of his earliest memories, dating back to his preschool days in New Brunswick.

“I was involved in the sport before I even knew I was,” Cougle said. “I’d go to the races with my grandparents, my mother [Patricia Sowers], and my uncle – traveling to tracks across New Brunswick and Maine. It was mainly my grandfather, Phil Sowers, who introduced me to it.”

Cougle knew he was destined to find his own calling in the sport.

“I would say as young as 7 or 8, I just got hooked on it,” he said. “I told myself I would be involved in some way; I just didn’t know when or how at that time. Whether it was a big stable or a little stable, I wanted to be involved somehow.”

His path back to the racetrack wouldn’t be immediate. Life had other plans — and a few hurdles — before his dream could take shape.

“We had about eight horses in our family when I was in high school,” he said. “My mother taught me so much about the horses, keeping them sound, doing right by them, and the hard work you have to put in every day you come to the barn.

“Eventually, for my family, it got to the point where I had the last horse who my grandparents had gotten for me. Money was getting a little tight with them having the horse — my mom was a single mother — so we were getting out of racing, which was around 2013.”

Cougle never lost his love for the sport and the horses once they shuttered the barn.

He followed racing, whether it was watching it, reading about it, or talking about it with family.

“My cousin, McGwire Sowers — races in New York and Maine — and kept tabs on it,” Cougle said. “I would watch the big races, like the Gold Cup and Saucer. I always paid attention.”

And then, last summer, Cougle was inspired to come back to harness racing.

“The last few years, I always said if Woodstock [Raceway] ever got a racing season — we were just a fair track that would race a couple times a season — I would get a horse and race him there,” Cougle said. “Unfortunately, other tracks in the province closed, and we ended up with a 12-card season.”

In the summer of 2024, Cougle, a self-employed carpenter, constructed a plan to purchase a horse.

Again, it would be anything but a straight path.

A gelding named Press Time — by Sportswriter out of Flirtwiththedealer — caught Cougle’s eye.

“Luke Armstrong hooked me up with Jamie Copley,” he said. “I talked to Jamie for a couple weeks leading up to the sale. The night he wanted to sell him — the horse was racing at Rideau Carleton — I was watching live and he won in :54 and change. I messaged him right away and said if he was still interested in selling him, I would take him.

“Jamie said he was going to hold onto him for a bit because his son wanted to keep him. We left it at that if things changed, he would let me know.”

Around two weeks later, Cougle received a call from Copley.

“He reached out and asked if I was still interested,” Cougle said. “I took the plunge and agreed. A week or so later, the horse was in Woodstock.”

On Aug. 30, 2024, Press Time made his first start with Cougle as owner and Averil Hunter as the trainer.

Expectations were modest.

“I figured if he paced in [1]:57 or [1]:58 in that class, I would be over-the-moon with that,” Cougle said.

Press Time, originally a $27,000 purchase at the 2018 Harrisburg Yearling Sale, decided to make headlines instead.

The pacer bred by Winbak Farm was five lengths clear at three-quarters in a lively 1:25.1 and coasted to a 3¾-length score.

“He went out there and threw a [1:54.1] mile and they couldn’t touch him,” Cougle said. “It was pretty surreal – I don’t even remember walking to the winner’s circle. It was quite a feeling. It was very hard to describe.”

Getting his photo taken wasn’t the only meaningful moment for Cougle.

“Having Averil — I was working on getting my trainer’s license at that time — help me out was huge,” he said. “It was quite a big deal for him and for me because I used to work for him when I was a kid, helping him with his horses. To be able to bring him on board and get him involved with it was pretty nice too.”

Press Time would win his first four starts for Cougle. In a local invitational race against top competition last September, he finished fifth, only 3½ lengths behind the winner.

Fast forward to the present and Cougle, who worked with highly respected trainers Carl Jamieson and Garry MacDonald when they came to Woodstock, has now added the same title to his own racing CV.

In three starts — all with Press Time — he has recorded a third, fifth and fourth.

He’s hoping for his training breakthrough at the upcoming Woodstock meet, which starts on June 14.

Cougle knows to expect the unexpected – just like in his full-time carpentry job.

“I will say both jobs have their ups and downs,” he said. “You have that element of luck sometimes with finding work or the luck of the draw with the horses. Work dried up a little bit earlier this year, but it’s picking up now.

“Last year, I was racing at Bangor, and in my second start, the horse was coming first up and brushing by everybody and the tire came off the rim of the bike. My cousin was very upset, but that stuff happens, unfortunately.”

Hardly enough, he added, to sour him on an industry that continues to play a meaningful part in his life, one he proudly shares with his children.

“It’s nice to experience it with them because I remember how I felt about horses as a kid. To show them that when they are at a young age – they all like it quite a bit. If I had to say which one would maybe pursue it one day, I would think it would be my youngest daughter for sure.”

In just over a month’s time, Cougle will be reminded, pleasantly, of the days he would travel to racetracks across the east coasts of Canada and the U.S. with his family.

Opening day of the Woodstock Raceway season will be a welcome homecoming for the man who kept his long-held promise and lifelong love of horse racing.

“It may be just one horse that I have, but it means the world to me,” he said. “It’s a way to honor my grandfather’s legacy and give something back to the sport that shaped my life.”