Kelso (horse) - Long Career

Long Career

Unlike many top racehorses, Kelso took a while to warm up his career. He 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 at his retirement and was beloved by racing fans for his courage and consistency.

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. His record probably would have been even better if not for the huge weight allowances he spotted his rivals under handicap conditions for much of his career.

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."

One of the greatest turf writers in history, Joe Hirsch, wrote, "Once upon a time there was a horse named Kelso. But only once."