Columbia, SC – After a brief illness longtime horseman “Bozo” Watson succumbed to sepsis at the Medical University of South Carolina on June 27, 2026.
Born in Brattleboro, VT in 1940 to the late Herbert and Evangeline Watson, Bozo was one of “the first responders” when Hinsdale Raceway opened in 1958 just six miles from the family homestead.
Part of the generation that included Jimmy Allen, Dave Marshall, Jim Mattison and others that got their trainers/drivers license and competed at Hinsdale and Green Mountain, Bozo would relocate to Saratoga and would always be involved with a lively discussion amid riffs of laughter, hence his nickname.
He would winter at the Pompano Park Training Center when the Saratoga racing season ended initially working for Billy Haughton as he rubbed Bill Rosenberg’s champion pacing filly Fleet Donut. “The Donut Man’s” daughter of Good Time would be sold to Canadian Mac Cuddy and her foals would go on to be the winners of a million dollars.
After that Bozo would opt to spend the summers in Saratoga working with Jim Fuller who he would eventually help lead into the Saratoga Harness Hall of Fame.
Signing on with Stanley Dancer for several years, Bozo was entrusted with many a hard to handle horse simply because Stanley knew he could do it. He also rubbed his share of high-priced animals such as Cool Wind, a full brother to Warm Breeze. Impressed with his ethics Stanley would ask if “there were any more folks up in his neck of the woods that wanted to come work” for him.
The allure of Saratogo was too strong again and the following year he joined Mickey McNichol and Joe Caraluzzi’s Jazz Cosmos outfit. He would win The Colonial with Why Not 1:56.4, $823,108 while his other charge took the filly counterpart that same year. He also would be named Pompano Park’s Groom of the Year.
It was during that time he met Kathy Wilson who took care of Nearly Perfect and Salute Hanover p,1:52.4, $489,340 on the road and Bozo and Kathy would become Life Partners for over 40 years.
When they returned to Saratoga, they decided to stay as Kathy went to work for the school department. Bo at first, became the night watchman for the great Niatross down on the breeding farm at “Exit 12” before he too, went to work for the City of Saratoga Springs.
They each put in over twenty years until retiring to relocate to Columbia, SC to be near their extended family. They would still spend a month in August in Saratoga to visit friends and relatives and catch up on the latest.
They both would be busy and Bo was always a tough man to keep up with. He was hard-working and willing to help anyone, and you’d be pressed to find someone as honest and dependable as “Bozo” Watson.
To read the official obituary on the Elmwood Funeral Home website, click here.