Longtime Horseman Charlie Aro Dies at 90
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Photo: Courtesy of the Aro Family
Charles Aro
Longtime Maryland and New England horseman Charles "Charlie" Aro, who was also known around the racetrack as "The Marshal," died peacefully July 26 at his residence in Haverhill, Mass. He was 90.
As a child, Aro worked on a farm in his native Maryland and taught himself to ride after he was given his first horse. Once he turned 16, he got his jockey's license and began riding professionally at the Maryland tracks. In 1963 he moved his tack to the old New England circuit, and in the ensuing years he wore different hats as an exercise rider, jockey, trainer, and outrider at the now-defunct Rockingham Park in New Hampshire and Suffolk Downs in Boston.
He later added the job of harness racing marshal to his résumé while Suffolk Downs also hosted a Standardbred meet until 1970 and Rockingham did the same until the 1980 fire that shuttered the track for four years, and that's how he earned the nickname that stuck throughout his life.
In what was a Hollywood ending, Aro notched the final win of his training career with the last horse he saddled, which was also the only horse he ran during the entirety of 2005. On Nov. 12, 2005, at Suffolk Downs, the decades-long member of the New England affiliate of the Horsemen's Benevolent and Protective Association posed for his decisive win photo with the Massachusetts-bred Storm Quest.
Aro is the father of veteran trainer Michael Aro, who conditioned horses at Rockingham and Suffolk Downs for decades until relocating his stable to Parx Racing.
He is also survived by two other sons, Paul Aro and Kevin Aro, and daughters Lisa Aro and Andrea Walsh; six grandchildren; and several great-grandchildren. He was predeceased in 2003 by his wife, Priscilla, who worked in the group sales department at Rockingham Park.
Due to the pandemic guidelines set by the state of New Hampshire, funeral services, which were held Aug. 1 at Brookside Chapel and Funeral Home in Plaistow, N.H., were private. The family requests that memorial donations be made to the Permanently Disabled Jockeys Fund, P.O. Box 803, Elmhurst, IL 60126.