| Kelso | |
|---|---|
| Sire | Your Host |
| Grandsire | Alibhai |
| Dam | Maid of Flight |
| Damsire | Count Fleet |
| Sex | Gelding |
| Foaled | 1957 |
| Country | United States |
| Colour | Dark Bay |
| Breeder | Bohemia Stable |
| Owner | Bohemia Stable (Racing silks: Grey, yellow disc, collar, cuffs and cap) |
| Trainer | Dr. John Lee Carl Hanford |
| Record | 63:39–12–2 |
| Earnings | $1,977,896 |
| Major wins | |
| Hawthorne Gold Cup Handicap (1960) Jockey Club Gold Cup (1960, 1961, 1962, 1963, 1964) Suburban Handicap (1961, 1963) Woodward Stakes (1961, 1962, 1963) Whitney Stakes (1961, 1963, 1965) Aqueduct Handicap (1963, 1964) Gulfstream Park Handicap (1963) John B. Campbell Handicap (1963) Nassau County Handicap (1963) |
|
| Awards | |
| Outstanding U.S. 3-Year-Old Male Horse (1960) 3rd New York Handicap Triple Crown (1961) U.S. Champion Older Male Horse (1961–1964) U.S. Horse of the Year (5 times, 1960–1964) |
|
| Honours | |
| U.S. Racing Hall of Hame (1967) Aiken Thoroughbred Racing Hall of Fame (1977) #4 - Top 100 U.S. Racehorses of the 20th Century Kelso Stakes at Belmont Park |
|
| Horse (Equus ferus caballus) | |
Kelso (April 4, 1957 – October 16, 1983) was an American thoroughbred race horse considered among the best racehorses of the 20th century. In the list of the top 100 U.S. thoroughbred champions of the 20th Century by The Blood-Horse magazine Kelso ranks 4th, behind only Man o' War (1st), Secretariat (2nd) and Citation (3rd). In his long and illustrious career, it is safe to say that Kelso beat more great or very good thoroughbreds than any other horse in the history of American Racing. The list reads like a who's who of the first half of the 1960's, including Carry Back, Gun Bow, Bald Eagle, Tompion, Never Bend, Beau Purple, Quadrangle, Roman Brother, Crimson Satan, Jaipur, Malicious, Ridan, Saidam, Pia Star, Garwol and Guadalcanal, just to name a few, while spotting his opponents many pounds under handicap conditions.
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Kelso's pedigree was undistinguished. Born at Claiborne Farm near Paris, Kentucky, he was sired by a well-known racehorse who was an unproven stallion, Your Host. Kelso's dam was the unheralded Maid of Flight (although her sire was Count Fleet and her grandsire was Man o' War. Kelso was her first foal; he was scrawny, runty and hard to handle. He was a maternal grandson of U.S. Triple Crown champion Count Fleet, who is ranked #5 by The Blood-Horse.[1] Before he set foot on a track, owner Allaire du Pont had him gelded in the hopes of calming him down. According to many, it did not work; Kelso was never a well-mannered horse. He was named for Mrs. du Pont's friend Kelso Everett and, like Mr. Everett who went by the nickname of "Kelly", so did the horse.[2]
Trained by Dr. John Lee and racing for Ms. du Pont's nom de course Bohemia Stable, Kelso made his two-year-old debut on September 4, 1959 at Atlantic City Race Course (at that time one of the country's premier tracks). Ridden by John Block, Kelso's first race was an ordinary maiden event (which he won). He was lightly regarded in his second start ten days later, when he finished second. The gelding was the favorite in his third race, which was shortly after his second and in which he again placed second. So ended his freshman season.
The Right Rev. Arthur Raymond McKinstry was known as Kelso's chaplain. In talking to reporters McKinstry said, "On the occasion of President Johnson and Mrs. Johnson's 30th wedding anniversary, the White House reporters asked me if I had any other claim to fame. I thought a little while and then had to confess to them that, among my friends in Wilmington, I am casually spoken of as the private chaplain for the great racehorse, Kelso. Taken aback, one reporter turned and asked me, 'Do you mean to say that you direct heavenly words to God on behalf of a racehorse?' 'I don't have to,' I replied. 'Let's say I just sit there with my fingers crossed and hope a little.'"[3]
Kelso's three-year-old season began after the Triple Crown[1] races of 1960 were run. Dr. John Lee had returned to his veterinary practice, and Kelso's new trainer was Carl Hanford (inducted into the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame in 2006), who handled him for the remainder of his career. Bill Hartack was his jockey for a short time followed by Eddie Arcaro, who rode him from mid-1960 to November 1961 when he retired as a jockey. In 1962, Ismael Valenzuela became Kelso's principal rider for more than three years.
Kelso's first start as a three-year-old (and first win for Hanford) was at Monmouth Park. Hanford said, "He was an extremely determined horse. If he saw a horse in front, he wanted to get to him. You could take him back or send him to the front. He was an extremely sound horse who was light on his feet with incredible balance. Kelso could wheel on a dime, spinning round in a circle and never letting his feet touch each other." After the Monmouth race, he won eight of his next nine starts: a mile race at Aqueduct Racetrack in a record for a three-year-old at that distance, the Choice Stakes, the Jerome Handicap, the Discovery Handicap, the Lawrence Realization Stakes, the Hawthorne Gold Cup Handicap and the Jockey Club Gold Cup (the latter two against older horses). In the Lawrence Realization, he equaled Man O 'War's time of 2:40-4/5 for 1⅝ miles. In 1960, Kelso was voted Three-Year-Old Champion Male and received the American Horse of the Year award.
At age four in 1961, Kelso won seven of nine starts. That year, he was voted Champion Older Horse and again Horse of the Year.
Unlike many top racehorses, Kelso took a while to warm up his career. The gelding[2] competed for eight seasons, from 1959 to 1966. As his career reached its zenith, so did his popularity, and huge crowds flocked to see him. Kelso competed on fourteen tracks, won in six states, set nine track records (plus two American records), was the all-time leading money-winner with $1,977,896 at his retirement[2] and was beloved by racing fans for his courage and consistency. In a simulated race featuring the top champions of American racing, Kelso beat Man O' War by a half-length.
In March 1966, Kelso suffered a hairline fracture of the inside sesamoid of his right hind foot. Hanford immediately retired him at age nine. Kelso left the track as racing's all-time leading money winner with lifetime earnings of $1,977,896. This earnings record held for 14 years, until it was surpassed by Affirmed in 1979. Of Kelso's 63 starts, he won 39, placed 12 times and finished third twice. He was out of the money 10 times.
Accepting his Hall of Fame award in August 2006, Carl Hanford said, "I am here today because of one horse and one horse only. Although I've had a few stakes horses before, they didn't compare with Kelso. There is an old saying on the racetrack that 'a good horse is dangerous in anybody's hands.' How true that is. Of all the top trainers in the past that have had this honor, I may be a little bit prejudiced, but I don't think any one of them had their hands on a horse like Kelso."
As a gelding, Kelso could not be retired to stud. Instead, he went on to a second career as a hunter and show jumper. In 1967, he was elected to the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame.
Kelso died on October 16, 1983. He is buried in the equine cemetery at Allaire du Pont's Woodstock Farm in Chesapeake City, Maryland.[5]