Crossing the finish line

As one gets up in years one has a tendency to check the obituaries each morning. Last week the N.Y. Times had two racing greats side by side. On the right they noted on the passing of Carl Hanford a trainer of the great horse Kelso. Entering the Racing Hall of Fame he said "I'm here because of one horse and one horse only." Kelso was a gelding and because of his inability to breed he ran into his ninth year and was probably the greatest horse of the 1960s decade having won the Jockey Gold Cup five times and a three time winner of both the Woodward Stakes and the Whitney Handicap. Back then many of the stakes races were "weight for age" and as Kelso was running against younger horses the stewards would often assign him heavier weights. The three year old horses running in the Triple Crown races in May/June were all assigned 126 pounds. What was impressive about Kelso he could win carrying 136 pounds which included the jockey Eddie Arcaro plus some metal in his saddle bags. He retired at age nine when his owner, Allaire duPont, would ride him on fox hunts. At age 26 he made a ceremonial visit to Belmont Park and died shortly thereafter. On the other side of the page was the obit of John J.Kelley a marathoner winner of the 1957 Boston Marathon. So here we had two great runners crossing the finish line together.
tjs
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