Z – #4 – Kelso – horseracing20thcentury99.com

Top Ten Horses Overall Twentieth Century

#4

Kelso

(1959- 1966)

Kelso, with regular rider Ismael Valenzuela, in the winner’s circle after winning the 1963 Woodward Stakes over Never Bend and Crimson Satan.

Photo: NYRA

PEDIGREE

Dk B/Br G (USA) 1957

OWNER

Bohemia Stable

TRAINER

Dr. J. Lee / Carl Hanford

BREEDER

Mrs. Richard C. du Pont

Some Facts

Kelso was born on April 4^th, 1957, at Claiborne Farm in Bourbon County near Paris, Kentucky. His breeder was Mrs. Richard C. du Pont, and he raced in the colors of her Bohemia Stable throughout his career.
Kelso’s sire was Your Host, one of the top three-year-olds in 1950 when he won eight stakes, including the Santa Anita Derby in a stakes record 1:48 4/5, this resounding victory propelling him to favoritism in the Kentucky Derby.
On January 13th, Your Host was entered in the San Pasquale Handicap at Santa Anita, his third race in thirteen days. Off as the 2-1 favorite, he clipped heels during the race and fell, breaking his shoulder and leg in several places. The injury was catastrophic, with little hope for survival, and many believed that Your Host should have been euthanized, but the insurance company, Lloyd’s of London, refused. Instead, Lloyd’s purchased the colt outright from his owner, William Goetz, and put him in the care of Dr. John Walker, who, after many weeks of constant care, managed to save him.
Kelso’s dam was the six-year-old mare Maid of Flight. A daughter of the great Count Fleet, she was foaled by Maidoduntreath, a daughter of Man o’ War. She would eventually produce eleven foals, the best of which, and the only stake winner, was Kelso.
Kelso had only one owner throughout his career, Mrs. Richard C. du Pont. However, he had two trainers. John Lee trained him during his two-year-old campaign. Carl Hanford, who was inducted into the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame in 2006, trained him throughout the balance of his career.
Kelso was often cantankerous and downright mean when he was a young two-year-old. This angry demeanor led to a decision to geld him. He was constantly for sale because of this mean streak and his not-so-good looks. Fortunately for Mrs. duPont, there were no takers.
When Kelso was two years old, he stood just 15.3 hands tall at his withers and was often described as a rail-thin runt. He would grow to 16 hands during his three-year-old season, but he was never a robust horse. Instead, he was sleek, like a greyhound, with long, lean muscles and a stride that measured just short of 24 feet when fully extended.
His longest winning streak was when he won eleven consecutive races, his final six starts in 1960, and his first five starts (one by disqualification) in 1961. He also had an eight-race winning streak in 1963.
Though not an overly big horse, Kelso was a noted weight carrier. He carried 130 pounds or more on twenty-four occasions, winning thirteen, finishing second in five, and third once. The heaviest weight he won with was 136 pounds, which he did twice, the first time when he won the 1961 Brooklyn Handicap while giving second-place finisher Divine Comedy eighteen pounds and again when he won an overnight handicap in 1964, giving second-place finisher Tropical Breeze twenty-two pounds. He also won races, carrying 130, 131, 132, 133, 134, and 135 pounds.
Kelso is the only horse to win five Horse of the Year titles, which he did consecutively (1960 to 1964), and five consecutive Jockey Club Gold Cups (all at two miles from 1960 to 1964).
One of Kelso’s most remarkable feats was winning the New York Handicap Triple. This grueling series included the one-mile Metropolitan Handicap, the ten-furlong Suburban Handicap, and the ten-furlong Brooklyn Handicap. He accomplished this feat in 1961 and joined Whisk Broom II (1913) and Tom Fool (1953), the only horses to win the Triple at the time. In the Metropolitan Handicap, Kelso carried 130 pounds and defeated All Hands, who received thirteen pounds. He carried 133 pounds in the Suburban and defeated Nickel Boy (112 pounds). In the Brooklyn Handicap, he carried a career-high 136 pounds and defeated Divine Comedy, who carried 118 pounds.
In his career, Kelso won races at all nine distances he tried: 6F; 7F; 8F; 8.5F; 9F; 10F; 12F; 13F; and 16F (two miles). He set or equaled eight track records and set three American Records.
When Kelso won the 13F Lawrence Realization Stakes at Belmont Park in 1961, his time of 2:40 4/5 equaled Man o’ War’s track record set in 1920. This record stood until 2018 when Rocketry broke it in the Temperance Hill Invitational.
In a remarkable span of twelve days, Kelso won his fifth consecutive Jockey Club Gold Cup on dirt at Aqueduct over Roman Brother in a track and American record time of 3:19 1/5. This record still stands. Twelve days later, he won the 12F Washington D.C. International on turf at Laurel in a track and American record 2:23 4/5 over his arch-rival Gun Bow. This track record still stands. He accomplished this feat at seven years of age.
Kelso ran at fourteen different racetracks in all parts of the country, including New York, New Jersey, Maryland, Delaware, Florida, Illinois, and California. He never ran at Churchill Downs, and though he ran twice at Hollywood Park in California, he never ran at Santa Anita or Del Mar nor any of the northern Californian tracks such as Golden Gate Fields or Bay Meadows.
Kelso won all four of his starts at Saratoga. He and Discovery are tied for the most Whitney Stakes victories with three. He won three Woodward Stakes and missed a record-tying fourth (with Forego) when he finished second by a nose to Gun Bow in 1964.
Kelso’s nose loss to Gun Bow in the 1964 Woodward Stakes has long been considered an iconic moment in the racing history of Aqueduct Race Track.
Because Belmont Park would undergo reconstruction in 1962, which would not be completed until after Kelso retired, the pesky gelding ran at Belmont only six times and won the first five, all on dirt, while finishing second in his final Belmont start, the 1962 Man o’ War Stakes on turf to his old nemeses Beau Purple. He ran at Aqueduct twenty-seven times and won twenty of them, including his first nine.
Four of Kelso’s Jockey Club Gold Cup victories were at Aqueduct, while the other, his third in 1962, was at Belmont Park.
I do not consider Kelso a great turf runner, though he did win the 1963 Washington D.C. International by four lengths over Gun Bow in American record time. His overall record on turf in eight starts consisted of four wins with three second-place finishes, with two of those victories coming in allowance races.
In 1965, Kelso made one start as a nine-year-old. It was in a 6F allowance race at Hialeah, and he finished fourth. This was his sixty-third and final career start as he was retired after fracturing a sesamoid in his right front leg while prepping for the Donn Handicap. After retiring, he eventually became a hunter and showjumper.
Kelso retired as the world’s leading money-winning thoroughbred with earnings of $1,977,896. He won multiple awards: top 3-year-old in 1960, top handicap horse four times (1961-1964), and Horse of the Year five times from 1961 to 1964. He was inducted into the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame in 1967.
On October 15th, 1983, before a crowd of over 32,000, twenty-six-year-old Kelso paraded before the start of the Jockey Club Gold Cup at Belmont Park along with champion Forego and the still-active John Henry. It was Kelso’s final public appearance. Sadly, he died the following day, on October 16th, 1983. His body rests in the equine cemetery at Allaire du Pont’s Woodstock Farm in Chesapeake City, Maryland.