Kelso Stakes

The Kelso Stakes is an American race for Thoroughbred horse race run annually in late September/early October at Belmont Park in Elmont, New York. A Grade II event open to horses, age three and up, it was contested on turf over a distance of one mile (8 furlongs) from 1988-2008. The race was moved to the dirt at the same distance in 2010. It had been originally being scheduled for turf before being moved to the main track in 2009 due to extremely heavy rain the day before.

The race is named for Kelso, Allaire du Pont's five-time winner of American Horse of the Year honors. This incarnation of the Kelso had been run as the Brighton Beach Handicap through 1983, with the last running of the Brighton Beach at 1 1/16 Miles on turf. There was an earlier version of the Kelso that had three runnings at two miles on dirt from 1980-'82 before that race was discontinued, with the Brighton Beach renamed the Kelso in 1984. Probably the most notable winner of the earlier incarnation of the current Kelso Stakes when it was the Brighton Beach Handicap was John Henry, who won the Brighton Beach in 1980 for his then-trainer, Lefty Nickerson.

The original Kelso Handicap was first run in 1980 as a two-mile dirt race, but was only run three times before being discontinued after 1982. Two years after the original Kelso Handicap was discontinued, the Brighton Beach Handicap was renamed the Kelso Handicap. The combined Kelso Handicap has been run at a total of three different distances:

• 2 miles : 1980-1982** (Original Kelso Handicap run on DIRT, separate stakes event from the current Kelso)
• 1¼ miles : 1984-1987 (on TURF, current Kelso Handicap after being renamed from the Brighton Beach Handicap)
• 1 mile : 1988-present (on TURF from 1988-2008, originally scheduled for turf in 2009, moved permanently to the main track in 2010).

• • - Earlier incarnation of the Kelso Handicap that was discontinued after 1982. The current Kelso Handicap was renamed from the Brighton Beach Handicap in 1984.

Records

Speed record: (at 1 mile on turf)

• 1:32.07 - Ashkal Way (2006)

Speed record: (at 1 mile on dirt)

• 1:33.82 - Uncle Mo (2011)

Most wins:

• 2 - Peat Moss (1980, 1981)** (At Two Miles on DIRT)
• 2 - I'm a Banker (1986, 1987)
• 2 - Forbidden Apple (2000, 2001)

Most wins by an owner:

• 2 - Murray M. Garren (1980, 1981)**
• 2 - Albert Davis (1986, 1987)
• 2 - Arthur I. Appleton (2000, 2001)
• 2 - Godolphin Racing (2006, 2008)

Most wins by a jockey:

• 3 - Jean-Luc Samyn (1982**, 1990, 2000)
• 3 - Jose Santos (1991, 1994, 2001)

Most wins by a trainer:

• 2 - Gilbert Puentes (1980, 1981)**
• 2 - Gasper Moschera (1986, 1987)
• 2 - Robert Barbara (1996, 1998)
• 2 - Christophe Clement (2000, 2001)
• 2 - Saeed bin Suroor (2006, 2008)
• 2 - Todd Pletcher (2011, 2013)

• • - Earlier incarnation of the Kelso unrelated to the current Kelso Stakes, which has only been run as such since 1984 and previously had been run as the Brighton Beach Handicap

Winners

• - Originally scheduled for Turf
  • -- Run on DIRT, with the 1980-'82 runnings a completely separate race from the current Kelso Stakes

+ -- First running of the Kelso after being renamed from the Brighton Beach Handicap, which the current Kelso Stakes was run as prior to 1984.

References

• The Kelso Stakes at the NYRA

Notes: The Edited knowledge of the Kelso Stakes previously being run as the Brighton Beach Handicap along with the fact there had been an earlier Kelso Handicap strictly come from memory of the exact situations at the time they actually happened from 1982-'84.