Kelly Kip

Last updated
Kelly Kip
Sire Kipper Kelly
Grandsire Valid Appeal
DamMarianne Theresa
Damsire John's Gold
Sex Stallion
Foaled19 April 1994
CountryUnited States
Colour Dark Bay or Brown
Owner Hobeau Farm
Trainer H. Allen Jerkens
Record31: 15-3-4 [1]
Major wins
Tremont Stakes (1996)
Sanford Stakes (1996)
Forest Hills Handicap (1997)
Bold Ruler Handicap (1998, 1999)
Frank J. De Francis Memorial Dash Stakes (1998)
A Phenomenon Handicap (1998)

Kelly Kip is a retired American Thoroughbred racehorse and active stallion. In a five-year racing career which was interrupted on several occasions by sickness and injury, he ran thirty-one times and won fifteen races, most of them over a distance of six furlongs. He never won a Grade I level stakes race and never won a Breeders' Cup race or an Eclipse Award, but he set track records at several major racetracks and was regarded as one of the leading North American sprinters of the late 1990s. [2] His trainer H. Allen Jerkens called Kelly Kip "the fastest horse I have been around". [3]

Contents

Background

Kelly Kip was a dark bay or brown horse with a narrow white stripe. He was by far the most successful horse sired by the Illinois-bred Kipper Kelly, a horse which never won at Graded level. [2] Kelly Kip was trained throughout his career by H. Allen Jerkens who was voted Eclipse Award for Outstanding Trainer in 1973 when his horses Onion and Prove Out both defeated Secretariat. In 1975 he had become the youngest trainer ever inducted into the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame at the age of forty-five. Like both Prove Out and Onion, Kelly Kip was bred in Ocala, Florida by Jack Dreyfus's Hobeau Farm. He was ridden in most of his races by the French-born jockey Jean-Luc Samyn.

Racing career

1996: two-year-old season

Kelly Kip's first appearance was in a five furlong claiming race at Belmont Park on June 21, 1996. He led from the start and won by six and a half lengths in a time of 55.75 breaking the track record previously held by Lure. Two weeks later he was moved up into Graded stakes class and won the six furlong Tremont Stakes by six and three quarter lengths, leading to his being described as the "instant star" of the Belmont season. [4] In July Kelly Kip recorded his third straight victory, and the second in stakes company when he won the Sanford Stakes at Saratoga Race Course by ten and a half lengths. [5]

On 31 August Kelly Kip moved up in distance to seven furlongs and started the 4/5 favorite for the Hopeful Stakes at Saratoga. [6] He failed to reproduce his earlier form as he finished seventh of the eight runners behind Smoke Glacken, leading Jerkens to suggest that the distance of the race had been beyond the limits of his horse's stamina. [7]

After a break of three months, during which he was treated for a lung infection, Kelly Kip returned at Aqueduct Racetrack in November. He won the Huntington Stakes by five and a half lengths from Confide to end the season with four wins in five starts. The win encouraged Jerkens to believe that the colt might still be able to compete over longer distances. [8]

1997: three-year-old season

In January at Gulfstream Park Kelly Kip was beaten by Confide in Spectacular Bid Stakes. [9] Following his defeat in Florida, the colt's season was affected by illnesses and he showed little worthwhile form before running at Belmont in autumn. In October he carried a weight of 111 pounds to win the Forest Hills Handicap from the four-year-old Crafty Friend. [10]

1998: four-year-old season

In 1998 Kelly Kip ran twelve times and won six races, all of them over sprint distances. In April he set a new track record of 1:07.6 for six furlongs at Aqueduct in the Bold Ruler Handicap, and in June he won the Finger Lakes Breeders' Cup in 1:08 – another track record time. He was also beaten favorite on several occasions in the first half of the year which Jerkens explained by noting that Kelly Kip had knee problems and was not "the soundest of horses". [11] At Laurel Park Racecourse in July, Kelly Kip was a last minute entry for the De Francis Memorial Dash, the second most valuable sprint of the season. He won from Affirmed Success in a time of 1:08.2, beating the race record set in 1991 by Housebuster. The trainer of the runner up described the winner as "probably the best sprinter in the country right now". [12]

In August Kelly Kip was sent to Saratoga to contest the Grade II A Phenomenon Handicap, a race which later became the Grade I Alfred G. Vanderbilt Handicap. Carrying the high weight of 122 pounds, he turned back a strong early challenge from Richter Scale and won by three lengths from Trafalgar. After the race, Jerkens called Kelly Kip "remarkable", while Samyn described him as "sprint-champion material". [13] In the following month, Kelly Kip finished unplaced behind Affirmed Success in a highly anticipated race for the seven furlong Vosburgh Stakes. [14]

1999–2000: later career

Kelly Kip won both of his races as a five-year-old. The more notable of his successes was a second victory in the Bold Ruler Handicap, in which he defeated Artax and broke the track record again, with a time of 1:07.54. Later that season, Artax won the Breeders' Cup Sprint and was named American Champion Sprint Horse. Kelly Kip on the other hand, missed the remainder of the year with a hock infection. [15]

Kelly Kip was less successful in 2000, but showed some good form in defeat when finishing second by a head when attempting to win a third Bold Ruler Handicap. He won one minor race but was again sidelined for much of the year when his hock infection recurred. He was retired from racing after sustaining an injury in a sixth-place finish in the Forest Hills Handicap. [3] [16]

Stud career

Kelly Kip began his career as a breeding stallion at Meadowbrook at Ocala before moving to Highcliff Farm, near Delanson, New York in 2002. [17] More recently, he has been based at Vinewood Farms in California. The most successful of his progeny has been the filly Bettarun Fast, who won the Santa Paula Stakes and the Railbird Stakes in 2006. [18] [19] He has also had some success as a sire of Quarter Horses. [20]

Pedigree

Pedigree of Kelly Kip (USA), bay or brown stallion, 1994 [21]
Sire
Kipper Kelly (USA)
1987		Valid Appeal
1972		 In Reality Intentionally*
My Dear Girl
Desert TrialMoslem Chief
Scotch Verdict
Plum Ten
1979		 Tentam Intentionally*
Tamerett
Misty PlumMisty Day
Plumage
Dam
Marianne Theresa (USA)
1985		John's Gold
1979		 Bold Bidder Bold Ruler
High Bid
Hardliner Buckpasser
Royal Match
Chalk Lullah
1977		Peace CorpsRestless Native
Rosy Prospect
Lullah Lullah Native Dancer
Lullah (Family: 4-n)

* Kelly Kip is inbred 4S × 4S to the stallion Intentionally, meaning that he appears twice fourth generation on the sire side of his pedigree.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Citation (horse)</span> American-bred Thoroughbred racehorse (1945–1970)

Citation was a champion American Thoroughbred racehorse who is the eighth winner of the American Triple Crown. He won 16 consecutive stakes races and was the first horse in history to win US$1 million.

Elusive Quality was an American Thoroughbred racehorse who was a record-setting sprinter on the racetrack and the leading sire in North America of 2004. He sired the 2004 Kentucky Derby winner Smarty Jones.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Native Dancer</span> American-bred Thoroughbred racehorse

Native Dancer, nicknamed the Gray Ghost, was one of the most celebrated and accomplished Thoroughbred racehorses in American history and was the first horse made famous through the medium of television. He was a champion in each of his three years of racing, and was inducted into the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame in 1963. In the Blood-Horse magazine List of the Top 100 U.S. Racehorses of the 20th Century, he was ranked seventh.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Easy Goer</span> American Thoroughbred racehorse

Easy Goer was an American Champion Hall of Fame Thoroughbred racehorse known for earning American Champion Two-Year-Old Colt honors in 1988, and defeating 1989 American Horse of the Year Sunday Silence in the Belmont Stakes by eight lengths. Both horses were later voted into the American Hall of Fame. He is known for his excellence in New York, with running the fastest mile on dirt by any three-year-old in the history in the Gotham Stakes with a time of 1:32+2⁄5, the only horse in racing history to win the Belmont, Whitney, Travers, Woodward and Jockey Club Gold Cup, among others.

Bold Ruler was an American Thoroughbred Hall of Fame racehorse who was the 1957 Horse of the Year. This following a three-year-old campaign that included wins in the Preakness Stakes and Trenton Handicap, in which he defeated fellow Hall of Fame inductees Round Table and Gallant Man. Bold Ruler was named American Champion Sprinter at age four, and upon retirement became the leading sire in North America eight times between 1963 and 1973, the most of any sire in the twentieth century.

Holy Bull was a champion Thoroughbred racehorse. Although he finished a disappointing twelfth in the 1994 Kentucky Derby, his major wins that year in the Florida Derby, Blue Grass Stakes, Metropolitan Handicap, Haskell Invitational, Travers Stakes and Woodward Stakes earned him American Horse of the Year honors. He suffered a career-ending injury in the Donn Handicap soon after the beginning of his four-year-old campaign in 1995.

Lure was an American Thoroughbred racehorse who was best known for winning back to back Breeders' Cup Miles in 1992 and 1993. He began his career racing on dirt, and won the Gotham Stakes while on the Triple Crown trail. After losing his next two races though, his trainer decided to try him on the turf. After the switch, Lure won nine stakes races, three of them Grade I, and retired with earnings of over $2.5 million. He was inducted into the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame in 2013.

Awesome Again was a Canadian Thoroughbred racehorse and stallion. As a three-year-old, he won the Queen's Plate in Canada and the Jim Dandy Stakes in the United States. He was undefeated at age four, scoring his biggest win in the Breeders' Cup Classic after winning the Stephen Foster Handicap, Saratoga Breeders' Cup Handicap, Hawthorne Gold Cup Handicap and Whitney Handicap. He was inducted into the Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame in 2001.

Victory Gallop is a Canadian-bred Thoroughbred racehorse who won the 1998 Belmont Stakes to deny Real Quiet the Triple Crown, and was the 1999 Champion Older Dirt Male.

King's Bishop (1969–1981) was an American Thoroughbred racehorse.

Onion was a U.S. thoroughbred whose victory over Secretariat in the 1973 Whitney Handicap is considered to be among the most dramatic upsets in the history of horse racing.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Africander (horse)</span> American-bred Thoroughbred racehorse

Africander was an American Thoroughbred Champion racehorse.

The Wilson Handicap was an American Thoroughbred horse race run from 1930 through 1958. Inaugurated as the Wilson Stakes at the Saratoga Race Course in Saratoga Springs, New York, it was named in honor of the late Richard Thornton Wilson Jr., a prominent Thoroughbred owner and president of Saratoga Race Course.

Cairngorm was an American Thoroughbred racehorse best known for winning the 1905 Preakness Stakes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ruler on Ice</span> American-bred Thoroughbred racehorse

Ruler on Ice is a Thoroughbred racehorse that won the 2011 Belmont Stakes. He was bred and foaled in Kentucky by Brandywine Farm in partnership with Liberation Farm on. He is a chestnut gelding sired by Hill 'n' Dale Farms' Roman Ruler out of the Saratoga Six-bred mare, Champagne Glow. The colt was consigned as lot 988 at the 2009 Keeneland September yearling auction, where he was purchased by George and Lori Hall for $100,000. Ruler on Ice only won one minor race after winning the Belmont and was retired from racing in July 2014. He lives in Versailles, Kentucky at the farm of his owners.

Groovy (1983–2006) was an American Thoroughbred Champion sprint racehorse known for his love of jelly donuts. He is the only horse to break the 130 Beyer Speed Figure, accomplishing that milestone in his first two starts of 1987. In the Roseben Handicap at Belmont Racetrack, he earned a 131 rating, which he followed up with a 134 in the True North Handicap.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wicked Strong</span> American-bred Thoroughbred racehorse

Wicked Strong is an American Thoroughbred racehorse. He established himself as a contender for the 2014 Kentucky Derby with a win in the Wood Memorial Stakes. He finished fourth in both the Kentucky Derby and the Belmont Stakes before winning the Jim Dandy Stakes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Speightstown (horse)</span> American-bred Thoroughbred racehorse (1998–2023

Speightstown was an American Thoroughbred racehorse who won the 2004 Breeders' Cup Sprint and was named that year's Champion sprinter. He also tied the track record for six furlongs at Saratoga race course. He became one of North America's leading sires.

The Champlain Handicap was an American Thoroughbred horse race for horses age three and older first run in 1901 at Saratoga Race Course in Saratoga Springs, New York. Placed on hiatus in 1945, it was revived in 1954 at Jamaica Racetrack as a sprint race restricted to fillies and mares. The race was discontinued after the 1957 running.

Jackie's Warrior is a Champion American Thoroughbred racehorse who has won five Grade I events including the Hopeful Stakes at Saratoga, the Champagne Stakes at Belmont Park in 2020 and the H. Allen Jerkens Memorial Stakes at Saratoga (2021). Jackie's Warrior was awarded as Eclipse Award as American Champion Sprint Horse in 2021. In 2022 won the Grade I Churchill Downs Stakes and Alfred G. Vanderbilt Handicap at Saratoga.

References

  1. ↑ "Kelly Kip". Equibase. Retrieved 2012-12-06.
  2. 1 2 "Kipper Kelly, Sired Millionaire Kelly Kip, Dead". BloodHorse. 2004-09-24. Retrieved 2012-12-06.
  3. 1 2 "Top Sprinter Kelly Kip to Stand in Native Florida". BloodHorse. 2001-01-19. Retrieved 2012-12-06.
  4. ↑ "HORSE RACING;Kelly Kip Shows He's No Fluke In Tremont". New York Times. 1996-07-06. Retrieved 2012-12-06.
  5. ↑ Joseph Durso (1996-08-30). "Speedy Kelly Kip Faces His Race of Truth at Saratoga". New York Times. Retrieved 2012-12-06.
  6. ↑ Bill Finley (1996-09-01). "'Smoke' Rolls As Kelly's Kip Is Hopeful Dud". New York Daily News . Retrieved 2012-12-06.[ dead link ]
  7. ↑ Joseph Durso (1996-09-01). "Smoke Glacken and 7 Furlongs Foil Kelly Kip". New York Times. Retrieved 2012-12-06.
  8. ↑ Joseph Durso (1996-11-28). "Returning From Layoff, Kelly Kip Shows Speed". New York Times. Retrieved 2012-12-06.
  9. ↑ "Confide Upsets Kelly Kip In Spectacular Bid Stakes". Sun-Sentinel . 1997-01-06. Archived from the original on March 3, 2016. Retrieved 2012-12-06.
  10. ↑ "Results from the 10.07 race at BELMONT PARK (USA) – 19 October 1997". Racing Post . Retrieved 2012-12-08.
  11. ↑ "Kelly Kip is last-minute, surprise entry into De Francis". Baltimore Sun . 1998-07-17. Retrieved 2012-12-06.
  12. ↑ "Kelly Kip's dash nets De Francis record 1 3/4 -length win sets stakes mark at Laurel". Baltimore Sun. 1998-07-19. Retrieved 2012-12-06.
  13. ↑ Joseph Durso (1998-08-13). "HORSE RACING; Kelly Kip Shows Dazzling Speed Again". New York Times. Retrieved 2012-12-06.
  14. ↑ Finley, Bill (1998-09-25). "Kelly Kip Sprinting For More Success". New York Daily News. Retrieved 2012-12-06.[ dead link ]
  15. ↑ "Kelly Kip, Others Work". BloodHorse. Retrieved 2012-12-08.
  16. ↑ "Top sprinter Kelly Kip retires". Thoroughbred Times. 2000-11-19. Retrieved 2012-12-06.
  17. ↑ "Kelly Kip to Highcliff in New York". BloodHorse. 2002-10-01. Retrieved 2012-12-06.
  18. ↑ "Kelly Kip Stud Record". Racing Post. 2012-02-15. Retrieved 2012-12-06.
  19. ↑ "Bettarun Fast". Racing Post. Retrieved 2012-12-06.
  20. ↑ "Champions Night Program Has Record Handle". Stallionesearch.com. Retrieved 2012-12-06.
  21. ↑ "Kelly Kip pedigree". Equineline. 2012-05-08. Retrieved 2012-12-08.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.