‘He was part of the Ellis community for more than 65 years and remains with us as an important and memorable part of our history’
Forrest Kaelin, the dean of Kentucky horsemen and a fixture at Ellis Park for almost 70 years as a jockey and a trainer, died Thursday at his Louisville home. He was 83 and had been married to Betty Kaelin for 63 years.
Kaelin, a native of Louisville, retired May 31 because failing health. He won 1,600 races out of 12,417 starters that earned $17.7 million in a training career that started in 1963, according to Equibase, the official industry data provider. Kaelin won the 1988 Ellis Park training title with 14 wins.
“That was his life,†Betty Kaelin said of her husband’s long-time love affair with the sport. “He had a good life, he really did.â€
His best horse in recent years was Good Lord, a three-time winner of Ellis Park’s Don Bernhardt Memorial and for whom the track this year renamed that dirt sprint stakes, which was won last Sunday by Majestic Affair. Good Lord won 15 races and earnings of $803,305 while winning nine stakes, including the Don Bernhardt 2012-2014, the 2012 Kentucky Downs Turf Dash, Churchill Downs’ 2014 Kelly’s Landing and the Mountaineer Mile twice.
Kaelin’s last of four graded-stakes victories came in 1999 with Da Devil, who won Turfway Park’s Grade 2, $500,000 Kentucky Cup Classic at 65-1 odds, paying $132.80. Finishing third in the race was Cat Thief, who in his next start won the Breeders’ Cup Classic. Equineline, whose statistics go back to 1976, show Kaelin as winning 38 stakes races dating to that time.
At the time of his retirement, Kaelin had been at Churchill Downs longer than any other active trainer. He won the first two runnings (1982-’83) with 18-time winner Vodka Collins of what now is Churchill Downs’ Grade I Stephen Foster Handicap, the Midwest’s premier summer dirt stakes for older horses. Kaelin won 344 races at Churchill from the 1965 fall meet until his last winner on May 11, Shea’s Cool, ranking 14th all-time at the track. Shea’s Cool was also his last starter, finishing third at Churchill Downs on May 28.
Another 62 of his victories as a trainer came at Keeneland, including the 1975 Phoenix Stakes with Delta Oil. Jockey statistics that pre-date Equibase’s data base are harder to come by, but Keeneland records show Kaelin won 10 races at the Lexington track as a jockey from 1953-1962.
“He was just a legendary horseman around Kentucky,†said trainer Jimmy Baker, a long-time friend who helped oversee the stable after Kaelin shipped north from Tampa Bay Downs in the spring. “Everybody loved him, liked him and respected him.â€
Baker added with a laugh, “He was one of the few trainers who didn’t love having veterinarians in his barn. Everything was pretty much old-school and homemade remedies for everything.â€
In addition to Betty, Kaelin is survived by daughter Terry Hall, granddaughter Brittany Arnold, grandson David Hall II, great-grandchildren Cohl Knoth, Piper Knoth and J.J. Arnold, along with sisters Libby Funk, Margaret Tucker and Pat Bachmann and brother Clyde “Boots†Kaelin. He was preceded in death by granddaughter Ashley King.
Visitation will be 3-7 p.m. ET Monday at Pearson Funeral Home, 149 Breckenridge Lane in Louisville.
“It’s a very sad day in the racing community,†said Ellis Park racing secretary Dan Bork. “Besides being a great horseman and very well-respected, Forrest was also one of the greatest people you could meet. He was part of the Ellis Park community for more than 65 years and remains with us as an important and memorable part of our history.â€
As a jockey, Kaelin was notable for riding 89 winners in 48 days at West Virginia’s Wheeling Downs at age 18, including six in a row on a single card. He rode for a decade before a serious spill sidelined him for almost a year. Betty ultimately convinced him to retire from the saddle and pursue a training career.
Tampa Bay Downs racing secretary Allison De Luca first met Kaelin when she was racing secretary at the old Sportsman’s Park back in the 1980s.
“Because he was a rider, I think that made him a better trainer,” De Luca said. “He knew all the riders and how they rode. But he was just a good horseman. The other thing about him is he cared about his horses, really loved them. One time I said, ‘What would you do if you hit the lottery?’ He said, ‘I wouldn’t do anything different. I want to see those heads poking out of those stalls.’ He was just a great guy. People always say that, but I really mean that.â€
Kaelin was a prodigious story-teller, who didn’t mind telling a story on himself. While he only had one Kentucky Derby starter, finishing 11th in 1997 with four-time stakes-winner Crimson Classic, he had a couple of “what if” brushes with greatness.
Kaelin liked to recall how a gentleman from South America asked him to take his Venezuelan-based horse and train him in the United States for the 1971 Kentucky Derby.
“Forrest got off the phone and said, ‘Who in the heck ever heard of a horse from wherever he was from coming over here and winning the Kentucky Derby?’†Betty said. “So when we’re sitting there watching Canonero II win the Kentucky Derby, I said, ‘Do you want me to push you or do you want to jump?’â€
Then in 1975, Kaelin went to buy a horse for a client, identifying two yearlings he liked. Betty says her husband wanted the one horse more than the other, but the owner didn’t have enough money to buy the horse who would sell for $17,500 and become 1977 Triple Crown winner Seattle Slew.
“So Forrest got the other one,†Betty said. Could the other horse run? “Heck no,†she said. “Not like Seattle Slew.”
