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EARLY CAREER Kelso did not start out in glory. His breeding was less than stellar. Born at Claiborne Farm near Paris, Kentucky , Kelso was sired by a great and courageous racehorse, but a sire of as yet unproven reputation, Your Host , nicknamed "The Twister" from a twisted neck suffered as a yearling. He was out of the dam, Maid Of Flight , with no reputation at all. Kelso was her first foal, a bit scrawny, a bit runty, and quite the handful. His owner, Allaire Du Pont (the wife of Richard C. Du Pont ), had him gelded before he ever set hoof on a track in the hopes of calming him down. By all reports, it did not work. Kelso was never a "nice" horse. In any case, regardless of his dam and sire, he was a maternal grandson of U.S. Triple Crown champion, Count Fleet who is ranked at number 5 by Blood-Horse. Trained by Dr. John Lee and racing for Mrs. du Pont's Bohemia Stables , 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. Even so, his odds weren't much when he made his second start ten days later and came in second. He was the favorite in his third race, which came rapidly on the heels of his first two, and again he came second. That was the entirety of his first year of racing. CHAMPIONSHIP VICTORIES His third year did not start until after the 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 , and the Jockey Club Gold Cup , this last race against older horses. In the Lawrence Realization Stakes he equaled Man 0 'War 's time of 2.40 & four/fifths for a mile and five/eights. 1960 was the first year Kelso was voted three-year-old Champion Male and Horse Of The Year . In 1961, he won seven of nine starts. That year he was voted Champion Older Horse and again Horse of the Year. Career Highlights:
A CAREER THAT LASTED Unlike all too many of today's top racehorses, Kelso did not ignite racing in his second and third year only to disappear to a stud farm. This great Gelding competed for eight seasons, from 1959 to 1966. As his career raced on, so did his popularity. Huge crowds flocked to see him. Kelso competed on fourteen tracks, won in six states, smashed any amount of records, won an unprecedented number of awards, and eventually became as beloved a horse as any who ever lived. RETIREMENT In 1965, during a workout he suffered a hairline fracture of the inside Sesamoid of his right hind foot. Though he'd planned for another year's racing, Hanford retired him at the age of nine. Kelso left the track as racing's all-time leading money winner with lifetime earnings of $1,977,896. These earnings held for a record 13 years. Of Kelso's sixty three starts, he won thirty nine, placed twelve times, and had two shows. He was out of the money only ten times in his entire career. Kelso's most frequent jockeys were Eddie Arcaro , Willie Shoemaker , and Milo Valezuela . As a gelding Kelso could not be retired to Stud . Instead, he went on to a second career as a hunter and a Show Jumper . In 1967, he was elected to the National Museum Of Racing And Hall Of Fame . Kelso died on October 16 , 1983 . FURTHER READING
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