NEWS
DuPont, owner-breeder of Kelso, dies at 92
Posted: Saturday, January 07, 2006
Prominent Maryland owner and breeder Allaire duPont, who campaigned her homebred Kelso to five Horse of the Year titles, died on Friday at her home at Woodstock Farm in Chesapeake City, Maryland. She was 92.
Kelso, voted Horse of the Year from 1960 to 1964, carried duPont's Bohemia Stable colors to 39 victories, including to five straight wins in the Jockey Club Gold Cup from 1960 to '64, and the '64 Washington, D.C., International. The Your Host gelding, who earned $1,977,896, died in 1983 at age 26 and is buried at Woodstock Farm, which duPont and her late husband Richard C. duPont Sr. bought in 1939.
DuPont was on hand for each of Kelso's 63 starts from 1959 to 1966, said Carl Hanford, Kelso's trainer.
"When Kelso was running you could guarantee that she'd be there," he said. "She was there every single time, never missed even one and that's quite a feat. Even up until the past year she'd attend the races at Laurel [Park] to watch her horses run."
In retirement, Kelso did not stand idle long as duPont rode him to the hunt three days a week. In an interview with the Wilmington (Delaware) News Journal in 2003, duPont said that her daughter, Lana, an Olympic-caliber equestrian, was worried about her safety aboard the celebrated champion racehorse.
"I remember my daughter said, 'Mom, you can't do that. He will run away with you,' duPont said. "I replied, 'He [Kelso] was a perfect gentleman.' "
In addition to Kelso, duPont bred more than 40 stakes winners, including Believe the Queen, Best of Luck, Byars, Crowned, Dixie Flag, Explodent, King's Bishop, Manlove, Politely, and Thirty Flags.
In recognition of her success as an owner and breeder, duPont was one the three first women, along with Penny Chenery and Martha Gerry, elected in 1983 to membership of the Jockey Club. She was also a member of the Grayson-Jockey Club Research Foundation, and a founder and vice president of Thoroughbred Charities of America.
Well known for her love of animals, duPont was among the founders for the Cecil County (Maryland) Humane Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.
"Mrs. duPont was an amazing lady, she had an incredible zest for life and was a wonderful friend through the years," Hanford said. "We continued to be friends long after Kelso retired and I last visited with her on Sunday. We used to have lunch at a restaurant in Chesapeake once a month."
"It was a pleasure to train for her," Hanford continued. "She was the best owner a trainer could ask for, and a good friend through the years. She put me on the map with Kelso; before that nobody knew who I was."
Her late husband was an aviation pioneer and inducted into the Delaware Aviation Hall of Fame. DuPont was also an accomplished glider pilot, trap shooter, tennis player, and in November was named Maryland Life magazine's first Marylander of Distinction.
Longtime friend and horseman Robert Ring of Wilmington summed up his feelings for his friend.
"She did so much good for so many people and so many organizations," he told the newspaper. "She'll always be remembered for that."
No funeral service is planned for duPont in accordance to her wishes.--Mary Marshall
