Odds On Racing - Harness Racing

Odds On Racing's

Personality of the Month
for January 2010

Carol Hukill

When accomplished horsewoman Carol Hukill passed away on Thanksgiving Day 2009, harness racing lost one of its true pioneers.

Before any program ever listed the names of other female drivers such as Williams, Farber or Ingrassia, Carol was plying her wares at raceways througout North America.

Carol Hukill

And long before it was commonplace to find a woman steering a Standardbred at major North American raceways, Carol was one of the sport’s first females to don racing silks, and unlike many, didn’t seek the spotlight for her efforts.
Carol Hukill driving

"She just always wanted to be with the horses, whether that meant driving or riding them, it was a love of hers from day one," said daughter Theresa Ledford, of Beecher, IL.

Born March 19, 1931 in North Vernon, Indiana, Carol was raised by parents Norma and Melvin Hukill, who pushed their daughter into music and teaching, instead of the horses.
Caroll Hukill driving2

"Her parents didn’t like the horses at all," Theresa recalled. "They wanted her to be a music teacher, and she did teach piano for a while for a living, but as soon as she got old enough to leave home, she went away to work with the horses."

Carol began riding as a teenager, and with her steed Queenie, collected blue ribbons at all the major horse shows in Indiana, Illinois, Kentucky and Ohio--in a variety of disciplines.

"She rode Queenie at all these big horse shows, beating a lot of top horses who had cost thousands of dollars," Theresa noted. "She’d go to shows and people would wonder where the heck she came from and she’d beat the pants off everyone."

In 1953, Carol began working with Standardbreds, via her neighbor, trainer Russell Van Blaricum, in the afternoons after school. Three years later she was training and driving on her own. She competed at tracks throughout the Midwest and East Coast, traveling alone and winning races wherever she went.

Standing just 5 feet tall and wearing brown and gold colors, Carol, while kind and gentle in the barn, was competitive on the track, earning her share of newspaper and magazine headlines, and was featured on the Oct. 1956 cover of Hoof Beats with her trotter Miss Dean Guy.
Carol Hukill Riding

"One of the gals getting top billing is Carol Hukill," the Hoof Beats text noted. "Carol has been around horses as long as she can remember, having cut her teeth with jumpers and contest horses. (The) top trotter in her stable now is Miss Dean Guy, owned by Dr. Clyde Kane of Galatia, IL."

Carol was featured in many other periodicals of the time, including:

~The Feb. 9, 1955 Harness Horse:
"Bad weather has slowed the horsemen with their training here (at North Vernon, IN), but every stall at the fairgrounds is taken. The stables of Curtis Russell, Bannister and Van Blaricum, Dr. S. J. Calli, Herman Foist, Leon Tewell and Miss Carol Hukill are located here. Miss Hukill is training the two-year-old Buckskin Worthy (Bifty Worthy-Hunch Siskiyou), a promising trotter; Lesota Barnes 2:081/5h, owned by Russell Van Blaricum; Faedale 2:093/5, owned by Temple Smock of Osgood and Miss Arles Castle 2:133/5h, owned by Curtis Russell of North Vernon."

~The Sept. 4, 1957 Harness Horse:
"Miss Carol Hukill thrilled the Tuesday crowd (at Northfield Park) when she drove the three-year-old Chestertown colt, Goin To Town, to a nose victory in 2:083/5. Racing on the limb for the last half the colt first wore down the favored Super Vo 4, 2:071/5h, which had won his last five dashes, and then kept on to get the photo from Pattie Ann for owners Colleen Acres and Stone Bros. Stable, Burton, Ohio.

~The Feb. 12, 1958 Harness Horse:
…."Miss Carol Hukill is training two head this season, her own Bifty Worthy trotter Buckskin Worthy 2:123/5h and the Protector mare Helen Protector 2:101/5h owned by William Diem of Versailles, Ind."

In 1961, Carol married Jesse Gosman, a Bedford, KY horseman she’d met at a horse show years earlier after beating him with Queenie. She continued driving and training a healthy string of horses, barely slowing down to have three children.
Carol Hukill Winning Trotting Stake

On Oct. 19, 1962, Carol scored one of the biggest wins of her career when she piloted her trotter Buckskin Worthy to victory in the Motor City Invitational Trot at Jackson Raceway in 2:06. By then she had racked up countless wins at Maywood, Aurora, Northfield, Buffalo, Freehold, Liberty Bell, Magnolia and at countless county fair venues from Illinois to New Jersey.
Though she curtailed her driving due to health issues in the 1980s, Carol continued to train successfully until 1998. For the past 15 years she had a busy horse shipping business, and was well known in Chicago for taking in wayward animals such as chickens, cats and dogs. She was a friend to humans and animals alike throughout the Windy City and was indispensable when someone needed a horse shipped out of state or across town.

When Carol passed away, she left three children: Danell McKenzie, 42, Jesse Lee Gosman, 47 and Theresa Ledford, 46, as well as five grandchildren and one great grandchild. Carol also left behind an extended family—the Chicago racing community—and the void left by her passing will never be filled.