Harness racing legend Phil Coulson died this afternoon after losing a long battle with cancer.
Born on 17th April 1933, Coulson was a son of well-known trainer/driver Charles Coulson and his mother Hilda was a daughter of four-time leading Perth trainer Fred Thomas.
Coulson was one of the inaugural harness racing inductees into The West Australian Racing Industry Hall of Fame in 2007 – an honour afforded him after a stellar career as both a trainer and driver.
As a driver Coulson won five Perth Drivers Premierships and six Perth Trainers Premierships driving more than 1100 winners with 817 of those winners in Perth.
Only Frank Kersley and his nephew Fred R Kersley won more trainers and drivers premierships in Perth.
Phil Coulson formed famous partnerships with some of the biggest equine names in Australian harness racing.
Pure Steel, Gammalite and Village Kid….Coulson won with them all to become the WA Pacing Cup king.
Few who were there will forget his outstanding reinsmanship behind the raw 4yo Village Kid when he beat the odds on favourite Preux Chevalier in the 1984 WA Pacing Cup.
No one has come close to Coulson’s record in the WA Pacing Cup. He trained five winners and drove seven winners between 1964 and 1985.
In addition to his remarkable record in the WA Pacing Cup, Coulson trained and drove his favourite horse Binshaw to win two heats and the final of the 1967 Inter Dominion.
He also won Fremantle Cups with Gammalite and Pure Steel, a Harold Park Cup with Village Kid, the WA Oaks with Tartan Maid and Via Valencia and a WA Derby with Taxi Boy.
Coulson is widely credited with changing the style of harness race driving in Western Australian with his tactics of being prepared to race outside the leader and to dictate the pace in races.
Coulson became renowned as a superb conditioner of horses and the fitness of his horses enabled him to drive them aggressively.
