[1] Setting up his own public stable in Canada, Preston Burch trained horses for prominent American owners such as Francis R. Hitchcock and John E. Madden.
Following the state ban, the suddenly out-of-work Burch moved to France where he was able to make a living training both steeplechase and flat racing Thoroughbreds for wealthy American owners Harry La Montagne, William Astor Chanler, George P. Eustis, and John Sanford.
Competing at racetracks across Europe, among his successes was a win in the Grand Steeplechase International at Milan with Harry La Montagne's horse Sultan VII.
[2] His racing career was interrupted by the outbreak of World War I in which he served in France with the American Field Service as a volunteer ambulance driver.
At the end of the War, Burch returned to the United States where he continued to train horses for John Sanford as well as for George Wingfield's Nevada Stock Farm and later for Detroit auto body magnate, Charles T. Fisher.
Under his tutelage, assistant trainers such as Richard E. Handlen, Burley Parke, and Oscar White learned the art of conditioning Thoroughbreds and went on to very successful training careers of their own.
Like his father and grandfather, Elliott Burch had an outstanding career that resulted in his induction in the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame in 1980.