Miracle horse wins at Monticello

Back in December of 2006 a miracle of sorts occurred at Monticello Raceway. It involved an 82-year-old gentleman by the name of  Don Karkos who worked as a security guard in the race paddock and also co-owned the trotter My Buddy Chimo with John Gilmour.

 

One morning  at Gilmour’s barn while  putting a piece of harness on My Buddy Chimo, the horse threw his head and hit Karkos on his noggin so hard that it knocked him against the wall of the stall. But more importantly, after that bopping Karkos, who had been blind in one eye since an explosion aboard his navy vessel in 1942 during World War II, began to see from that blinded eye.

 

It became an international news story when  the local newspaper--the Times Herald Record--pegged it as “the Monticello Miracle” and the story was picked up by the wire services and was carried world-wide by organizations like CNN, CBS, NBC and even the BBC.

 

At that time My Buddy Chimo was a relative unknown and just beginning his racing career. Though  Mr. Karkos passed away in early 2007, over the years  the 8-year-old Movie Mogul gelding developed into a useful trotter earning over $140,000.

 

On Wednesday afternoon, June 23, My Buddy Chimo turned back the best trotters on the Monticello Raceway grounds for driver John Gilmour, who now co-owns the trotter with Arnie Waxenbaum and Jerry Plante.

 

My Buddy Chimo raced along in fourth position until the backstretch the second time around at which point  Gilmour moved him out to challenge the odds-on favorite Mystical Heiress and the two raced side-by-side past the third stanza and around the final turn. In the lane My Buddy Chimo put away Mystical Heiress and held off a late rally by BJ’s Rocky Vacation (Jimmy Marohn.) to score a 2:01.2 triumph, his second of the season.

 

Sent off at odds of 10-1, My Buddy Chimo returned a $22.40 win mutuel.

 

 He’s a nice little horse ; he’s honest, easy to drive  and tries all the time,” Gilmour said of my Buddy Chimo. “It’s too bad that Don (Karkos) is not around to see how he developed into a nice trotter.” (Monticello)