Breeder/Owner Charlie Viar Dead

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Odell “Charlie” Viar, a Tennessee breeder and owner, died Jan. 26 in Covington, Tenn. Viar, a Marine veteran of World War II, was 86.

Also known as C.O., Viar raced at tracks in such locales as Kentucky, Florida, Louisiana, Arkansas, and Ohio. His stakes winners included Bay Phantom, who won the 1966-67 Churchill Downs Handicap.

Viar’s other stakes winners included Braze and Bold, winner of the 1978 Derby Trial Stakes at Churchill Downs, and Royal Dan, who as a 2-year-old in 1981 took the James C. Ellis Memorial Stakes at Ellis Park and the Cradle Stakes at River Downs in consecutive starts.

With trainer Bob Holthus, Viar raced multiple stakes winner Washington County.

Viar’s survivors include his wife, Judy. 

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