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Kelso
On September 4, 1959, an undistinguished-looking dark bay or brown gelding went to the post at Atlantic City Race Course under jockey John Block for his first start. The race was an ordinary maiden special weight for two-year-olds, and though the gelding won, it would have been a keen observer indeed who marked the young Kelso as anything special. Nor had Kelso particularly impressed anyone in his own stable. Bred by Mrs. Richard du Pont, the son of the speedy Santa Anita Derby winner Your Host and the Count Fleet mare Maid of Flight was a smallish, skinny youngster. (He later grew to a full sixteen hands.) He was gelded before he ever came to the races, partly due to his unprepossessing appearance, partly due to apparent interference in his action caused by testicular pain, and partly due to a nasty temperament, which was by no means entirely abated by gelding. Even years later, Kelso remained a tough customer and a first-class handful to ride during workouts. But Carl Hanford, who took over the training of Kelso from Dr. John Lee early in the horse’s three-year-old season, never regretted Lee’s decision to geld the future champion. “He was tough,” Hanford said while reminiscing about the great horse. “Not really mean, just real tough – he wanted things his own way. I think if he’d been a stallion, he’d have been extremely difficult.” At the time Hanford took Kelso over, the horse had run second in two more juvenile races and had not started at three. Besides a highly dominant temperament, Hansen also found that Kelso had a stifle injury, which took some time to heal and remained vulnerable to recurrence in later years. Kelso made his seasonal bow in a six-furlong allowance race at Monmouth Park on June 22, well after the 1960 Triple Crown races (won by Venetian Way, Bally Ache, and *Celtic Ash, respectively) were in the books. He won by ten lengths, then hung up a mark of 1:34-1/5 for the mile at Aqueduct in his next race, believed to be a record for a three-year-old at that track. From there, “Kelly” moved into stakes company. He finished eighth in the Arlington Classic behind T.V. Lark after getting a rough trip but won the Choice Stakes in his next start under the guidance of Bill Hartack. Hanford next engaged the services of “The Master,” Eddie Arcaro, for his rising star, and for fourteen consecutive starts in 1960 and 1961, the partnership of Arcaro and Kelso proved nearly unbeatable. In succession, Kelso won the Jerome Handicap, Discovery Handicap (in track record time for nine furlongs at Aqueduct), and Lawrence Realization (beating the Travers Stakes winner Tompion and equaling Man o’ War’s forty-year-old track record for the mile and five-eighths) against his fellow three-year-olds. Having run out of competition within his own division, Kelso then finished his season by taking the Hawthorne Gold Cup and the first of his five successive Jockey Club Gold Cups. In the latter race, he set an American record of 3:19-2/5 for two miles on dirt despite a sloppy track – and did it so easily that Arcaro said after the race, “At the end, I was breathing harder than Kelso.” Despite the late start of his campaign, Kelso was an easy choice for champion three-year-old male and Horse of the Year. Kelso’s four-year-old campaign was delayed by a wrenched stifle, and he did not make his first start of 1961 until May 30, when he won an allowance race. Off that single start, he was weighted at 130 pounds for the Metropolitan Handicap and barely escaped traffic in time to catch All Hands (117 pounds) by a neck at the wire. He got an even rougher trip in his next start, the Whitney Stakes, in which he was slammed by Our Hope. Getting nineteen pounds from Kelso (111 to 130 on the champion), Our Hope finished first but was disqualified. Kelso then won the Suburban Handicap by five lengths under 133 pounds. Kelso climaxed an eleven-race win streak in the Brooklyn Handicap, one of the greatest performances of his career. Loaded with 136 pounds, Kelso came from about sixteen lengths off the pace to win over a surprisingly gritty Divine Comedy. (Winner of the Roamer and Saranac handicaps the preceding year, Divine Comedy would go on to win the Saratoga Handicap later in 1961.) Kelso’s victory concluded a sweep of the so-called “Handicap Triple Crown” of the Metropolitan, Suburban, and Brooklyn handicaps that had been won by only two horses before him: Whisk Broom II in 1913 and Tom Fool in 1953. (It has since been won only by Fit to Fight in 1984). In winning the Suburban, Kelso equaled Whisk Broom II’s long-disputed track record of 2:00 flat for the mile and a quarter, at long last settling the question of whether the distance could actually be run that fast at Belmont. Kelso had his winning streak snapped with a fourth-place finish behind lightly weighted Chief of Chiefs in the Washington Park Handicap, but he sealed the titles of champion handicap male and Horse of the Year by winning the Woodward Stakes by eight lengths (champion three-year-old male Carry Back a well beaten third) and his second Jockey Club Gold Cup by six.. His final start of the season was in the race that would become his bete noire -- the Washington, D.C., International. Trying the turf for the first time, Kelso could not quite handle T. V. Lark, that year’s champion grass horse, who set a course record of 2:26-1/5 for the mile and a half while defeating Kelso by three-quarters of a length. But Kelly (who had come out of the race with an injured hock) had lost no stature in the attempt, and as a gelding, there was every reason to believe he might be back for another try. 1962 was not a great year by Kelso standards, as the horse won but half his twelve starts and did not pick up his first stakes score until August. Part of his problem was finding the right jockey. On his retirement, Arcaro had recommended the great Willie Shoemaker as his replacement, but Shoemaker – a small man even by jockey standards – was a finesse rider who proved ill-suited to the hard-headed Kelso, a horse who needed some muscle to manage. Alfter losing the Metropolitan, Suburban, and Monmouth handicaps on Kelso, “Shoe” felt he was doing the horse no real favors and took himself off the gelding. He was replaced by Ismael Valenzuela, who turned out to be an excellent match for the horse and became Kelly’s regular pilot for the rest of his career. Despite the jockey problem, the year’s bright spots included a second victory in the historic Woodward Stakes, defeating champion three-year-old Jaipur; a ten-length demolition of his field in the Jockey Club Gold Cup; and a new track record for the mile and a half in the Governor’s Plate at Garden State Park. Kelso also posted a gallant second by one and one-half lengths to the high-class French horse *Match II in the Washington, D.C., International after matching strides with the speedy Beau Purple early in the running and then standing off a stiff challenge by Carry Back. Kelso broke Armed’s world record for earnings by a gelding and was once again honored as champion older male and Horse of the Year. Kelso returned to vintage form in 1963, winning nine of twelve starts and finishing second in two more. He began his season much earlier than usual, winning the Seminole and Gulfstream Park handicaps in Florida, then returned to his usual stomping grounds in New York to take a second Suburban Handicap, a third Woodward Stakes, and his fourth consecutive Jockey Club Gold Cup among other major races. But once again, he failed to conquer the Washington, D.C., International, finishing second to yet another turf specialist after getting off to a poor start. This time it was Mongo, who sealed honors as the season’s champion grass horse with his victory. But Kelso once again locked up top honors as Horse of the Year, as well as a third consecutive title as champion handicap male. His seasonal earnings amounted to $569,762, the highest of his career. The champion was beginning to show some wear and tear as 1964 began, but that was hardly his biggest problem. A new challenger had arrived on the scene. His name was Gun Bow, and although he lost to Kelso in the Aqueduct Stakes, he defeated him in both the Woodward and Brooklyn handicaps. The latter was a sensational performance in which Gun Bow won off by twelve lengths in track record time of 1:59-3/5 with Kelso unplaced. Gun Bow had already won the Gulfstream Park Handicap in Florida and the Charles H. Strub Stakes, San Antonio Handicap, and San Fernando Handicap in California prior to the Brooklyn, and he would also add the Washington Handicap and the Whitney Stakes to his resume before his season-ending showdown with Kelso in the Washington, D. C., International. Kelso had acted strangely prior to the running of the Brooklyn – he actually sat down on his haunches in the starting gate and had to be coaxed back to his feet, then banged his head on the starting gate while coming away at the break – and though he ran without obvious signs of soreness, he showed none of his normal enthusiasm for racing. He ran much better in the Woodward, finishing second by a scant nose after a hard stretch battle with Gun Bow, but when he entered the gate for the Jockey Club Gold Cup, he had won only three of nine starts to that point and his chances to repeat as champion appeared slim. A mile and three-quarters later, the picture had changed drastically. Running on his own splendid courage, Kelso had repelled the challenge of the good three-year-old Roman Brother – a future Horse of the Year in his own right – and was drawing off with every stride. An awed silence hung over the stands at Aqueduct; then, spontaneously, the clapping began: not a chaotic roar of applause, but a rhythmic clapping in time to the cadence of Kelso’s stride that did not end until the great horse had crossed the finish line. It was a performance worthy of such an accolade, for Kelso had not only won commandingly by five and one-half lengths but had clipped a fifth of a second from his own American record for two miles. Almost anything following such a performance could be considered anticlimactic, but not in 1964. Once again, Kelso had answered the challenge of the Washington, D. C., International, in which he had finished second for three straight years after valiant efforts. A splendid international field had been drawn together for the great event. And Gun Bow was there, throwing the gauntlet down to the old champion with Horse of the Year honors on the line. The Laurel turf course that day was extremely hard and fast due to a prolonged drought, and when the tape barrier flew up, Gun Bow shot from the line like a scared rabbit. But Kelso was off hardly less swiftly before Valenzuela took him in hand and let him coast about four lengths in Gun Bow’s wake, watching and waiting. Halfway through the race, Valenzuela made his move, and from the mile to the quarter pole, Kelso and Gun Bow waged a bitter battle with neither giving an inch or asking quarter. One head bobbed in front, then the other, but at the quarter pole it was Kelso’s in front...then his neck...then his quarters...then his tail. Gun Bow had given all he had, and though he held on for second, it was Kelso who drew clear and came down to the wire four and one-half lengths to the good, in new American record time of 2:23-4/5 for the mile and a half on grass. “King Kelly” had kept his crown, winning an unprecedented fourth straight title as champion handicap male and his fifth consecutive Horse of the Year title. No other racehorse has ever come close to Kelso’s five Horse of the Year titles -- the nearest rival is Forego, with three -- and only one other horse has achieved championships in five different seasons: Lonesome Glory, who won Eclipse Awards as champion steeplechaser in 1992, 1993, 1995, 1997, and 1999. And only Forego has equaled Kelso’s feat of four consecutive championships on the flat within the same division, this when he earned the Eclipse Award as champion older male in 1974-1977. Kelso was once again slow to come to hand as an eight-year-old. With his continued career somewhat in doubt, he spent the early part of the year making exhibition gallops at Laurel, Keeneland, and other tracks to benefit equine research at the Grayson Foundation and the University of Pennsylvania’s School of Veterinary Medicine. He finally made his first start on June 29, finishing third in a six-furlong allowance race at Monmouth Park. His next start was a win in the Diamond State Handicap at Delaware Park under 130 pounds, this on July 10. A somewhat dull third followed in the Brooklyn Handicap, but he showed all his old form in the Whitney Stakes, defeating the fine handicappers *Malicious and Pia Star. Uncharacteristically, Kelso then threw in another lackluster effort in the Aqueduct Stakes on Labor Day, running out of the money. Three weeks later, Kelso dispelled rumors that he was done forever by blasting a good field in the Stymie Handicap by eight lengths. Unfortunately, the same race that proved him back in top form ended his season. Somewhere in the running of the Stymie, Kelso had gotten a clod of dirt kicked into his left eye and an infection set in, causing Kelso to miss the Woodward. Treatment by Dr. Loren Guy saved Kelso’s eye, but the injury forced his retirement for the season just before a scheduled defense of his title in the Jockey Club Gold Cup. To this day, Hanford believes that if Kelso had remained healthy, he would have won the Gold Cup for a sixth consecutive time, equaling the feat of the beloved English gelding Brown Jack in winning the Queen Alexandra Stakes six straight years. A sixth victory in the Jockey Club Gold Cup might also have earned Kelso yet another championship, but this was not to be. Although Kelso’s record at eight was hardly to be sneezed at, it was not enough to keep the doughty Roman Brother (who had won the Gold Cup in Kelso’s absence and had also finished ahead of the champion in the Brooklyn Handicap and Aqueduct Stakes) from wresting away both the champion older male and Horse of the Year titles. The latter title was shared with the brilliant juvenile filly Moccasin, who was unbeaten and unextended in eight starts within her division. The following year, Kelso for once seemed ready to go early in the year and was shipped to Florida with the idea of trying to make him the first horse to surpass two million dollars in earnings. He made his first start of the year in a six-furlong allowance race at Hialeah, finishing fourth, and was pointed towards the Donn Handicap at Gulfstream Park. The Monday before the race, however, Kelso took a few bad steps before a scheduled workout and was immediately X-rayed. He proved to have suffered a hairline fracture of a sesamoid and was officially retired the following day. “King Kelly” at long last stepped down from his throne with thirty-nine wins, twelve seconds, and two thirds from sixty-three starts. He was inducted into the National Museum of Racing Hall of Fame in 1967, his first season of eligibility, and one suspects the voters seldom had an easier time in reaching a decision. Kelso also retired with the title of world’s leading money winner, finishing his career with a bankroll of $1,977,896. The great gelding lived out a peaceful retirement on Mrs. du Pont’s Woodstock Farm in Maryland, with some excitement provided by foxhunting excursions with the Vicmead Hunt in Delaware and the Andrew’s Bridge Hunt in Pennsylvania. He was regularly ridden to the hunt by Mrs. du Pont and also got frequent visits from Hanford, who remained on friendly terms with Mrs. du Pont although he left employment as her trainer following Kelso’s retirement. “I don’t really think he [Kelso] remembered me,” said Hanford. “At least, he didn’t act like it. But he was one smart horse. If you had sugar anywhere on you, he’d come right up to you. But if you didn’t have anything, he’d just give you this look like, ‘to hell with you’ and stay away.” At the age of twenty-six, Kelso made one final public appearance. This was at Belmont Park, where he was paraded along with fellow champions Forego and John Henry on Old Timers‘ Day. The long van ride there and back seemed to take a good deal out of Kelso, and the following day the old champion died, passing to greener pastures on October 16, 1983. Perhaps he lacked the flaming brilliance of a Man o’ War or the magnificence of a Secretariat, but he was a mighty champion, and it may be long indeed before we see another horse capable of sustaining such excellence over so long a period. © 2005 by Avalyn Hunter |
