Sport: The Ugly Yearling

The greatest champion of American thoroughbreds died in 1947 and was buried beneath the bluegrass of Kentucky’s Faraway Farm. But the truth is that Man o’ War never really died. So firmly rooted is his legend that his portrait still hangs in a place of honor in the clubhouse of nearly every major U.S. race track. So storied was his running prowess that today, 41 years after his last race, Big Red’s record remains the standard of purity and perfection against which the performance of every other race horse, sooner or later, must be measured. In 1948, there were hopes that Citation might get up into Red’s class. In 1953, it was Native Dancer that the dopesters were anxiously watching. Both horses did everything that was asked of them: Citation became the first to win more than $1,000,000 racing, and Native Dancer won 21 races in 22 starts (sole loss: the Kentucky Derby). But sentimental turfmen still agreed that neither was the equal of old Red.

This year the horse most frequently bracketed with Man o’ War is one of Big Red’s own great-grandsons (see chart): a doughty, walnut-hued, four-year-old gelding named Kelso, who runs like an antelope, eats like a longshoreman (10 qt. of oats daily), and is hooked on sugar cubes. The only race Kelso has lost this season was the Washington Park Handicap, in which he finished fourth on a slippery track, under top weight of 132 lbs. Running against the best distance and weight-carrying horses in the nation, Kelso has won the Brooklyn. Suburban and Metropolitan Handicaps, the Whitney Stakes, the Jockey Club Gold Cup and the Woodward Stakes—under imposts as high as 136 lbs. (Man o’ War’s top freight: 138 lbs.), over distances as long as two miles, by margins as wide as eight lengths. Says Veteran Thoroughbred Trainer Howard Hoffman: “I’d have to call Kelso a freak—a wonderful freak. He doesn’t look like much, but he runs hard, carries weight and takes on all comers. He can win taking the lead or coming from behind. He doesn’t seem to care which—as long as he wins.”

Biggest Title. In a total of only 20 starts, Kelso has earned $707,155—an average of $30,745 for every mile he has raced. He was 1960’s Horse of the Year, seems certain to become the third horse to win that honor two years in a row (the others: Whirlaway, Challedon). This week, with a lucky yellow ribbon wound into his forelock and Old Master Eddie Arcaro in his saddle, Kelso will parade to the post for the most important race of his brief career: the Washington International, 1½ miles over the turf at Maryland’s Laurel Race Course. The stakes are a $70,000 winner’s purse and the biggest title of them all: best race horse in the world.

The International figures to be Kelso’s toughest race. “The only time he’s ever been on his feet on the grass,” says Trainer Carl Hanford, “is when he’s grazing in the backstretch or laying up for the winter.” Like most U.S. horses, Kelso is unfamiliar with the “Newmarket barrier” start* used at Laurel. But Kelso’s chief problem is the competition: the most formidable field ever assembled in the bright ten-year history of the International. Danish Champion Wonderboy, winner of the Stockholm Grand Prix and the Oslo Cup, will be there. So will France’s Misti, who showed in the Prix de 1’Arc de Triomphe. Venezuela’s Prenupcial, who won the rich Gran Premio Clásico Simón Bolivar fortnight ago in Caracas, has traveled north for the occasion. Russia is sending two horses, and Ireland’s President Eamon de Valera has entered his champion filly, Sail Cheoil. Also in the field: the U.S.’s dangerous T.V. Lark, a seasoned grass runner who won the 1⅝-mi. Knickerbocker Handicap fortnight ago in a record-breaking 2 min. 40 sec. Says Trainer Hanford: “This is going to be a hell of a race. But that should suit Kelso just fine. It seems as though he needs a challenge. When a horse gets to him, he seems to enjoy it—almost as though he were saying, ‘Oh, so you want to race, do you? Well, let’s see what you can do!'”

Cantankerous Colt. As a yearling, Kelso gave no hint that he would ever enjoy racing: the colt was so ugly and cantankerous that his owner, Mrs. Richard C. du Pont, despairingly ordered him gelded—a decision that has come to cost her an estimated $1,000,000 in stud fees. As a two-year-old, Kelso won only one race and retired to pasture with an injured leg. As a three-year-old, scrawny (970 lbs.) and unpromising, Kelso was put up for sale—but there were no buyers. Then Trainer Hanford took charge. “He had so much speed out of the gate,” says Hanford, “that I figured he’d never be much of a stayer. But I took a chance and dropped him in a one-mile allowance race. He took off like a brown streak and won by twelve lengths. Then we knew we had quite a horse.”

Beefed up to an even 1,000 lbs., Kelso won last year’s Choice Stakes by seven lengths at New Jersey’s Monmouth Park and started on an eleven-race victory streak. Most were easy, but the 65,569 fans who watched Kelso’s stretch duel with All Hands in the Metropolitan last May will never forget the experience. “He was seventh.” recalls New York Handicapper Tommy Trotter (TIME. Aug. 4), “eight lengths out, at the head of the stretch. He looked for all the world like a sure loser. Then he started his move; I’ve never seen a horse run so fast. All of a sudden, there he was, with that huge stride of his,* passing All Hands at the wire.” Jockey Arcaro estimated that Kelso sprinted the last furlong in 11 sec. flat. Said he: “I’ve ridden some great horses. But never a better one than Kelso.”

* In which, instead of breaking from a mechanical starting gate, the horses walk up to a tape stretched across the starting line and break when the tape is dropped.

* Kelso’s stride has been measured at 24 ft. 11 in. (v. Man o’ War’s 24 ft.).