The Day That Racing Stood Still
The cover of the Daily Racing Form on Nov. 23, 1963
By all accounts, the country froze in the hours and days after a bullet cut short the life of President John F. Kennedy on Nov. 22, 1963, and the temporary paralysis carried over into the racing world.
Most tracks went dark that Friday as the news traveled the country. Fred Capossela informed a shocked Aqueduct crowd of 24,820 that the president had been shot just moments after the fifth race, and delivered the news of his death as the seventh race went to post. Aqueduct cancelled the remainder of its card that day. Pimlico called off its card after the fifth race, and Narragansett Park after its third. Shenandoah Downs’ night program was cancelled completely. Flags were lowered to half-mast at most facilities. The Daily Racing Form noted that Friday evening’s scheduled boxing match at Madison Square Garden, as well as “all of Broadway’s legitimate theaters” also closed on that date.
Only Pimlico and Jefferson Downs ran their scheduled races on Saturday, leaving one stakes race on the books for Nov. 23. New York officials postponed the Display Handicap from Nov. 23 to Nov. 29. Pimlico hosted the Pimlico Futurity, which was then one of the richest stakes for 2-year-olds in the country. It attracted a field of 14 and was won by Paul Mellon’s Quadrangle under Bill Hartack. Jefferson Downs was hosting the final day of its meet on Nov. 23, which concluded with increases in both attendance (average 3,086) and handle ($157,458).
Up until the assassination, the biggest news in race fans' world was the magnificent Kelso. In the Nov. 30 edition of the Thoroughbred Record, writer David Alexander penned a column uniting his reflections after the assassination with the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday titled “A Little Something to Be Thankful For.” Kelso was first on the list, especially because of his rumored match-up with rival Mongo at Hialeah Park in the coming weeks (which never materialized). Kelso would go on to be voted Horse of the Year for 1963, as well as champion older horse after notching nine graded stakes wins from 12 starts.
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Interestingly, Alexander also gave thanks for an initiative announced that week by the Jockey Club to fund a study into the causes of lameness in racehorses, which he called “long overdue.”
“Unfortunately, the basic reasons for the unsoundness and generally short racing careers of modern horses may not be subject to correction,” he wrote. “It boils down to too much racing. Too much racing is dictated by the politicians who look upon the sport solely as a source of revenue and is encouraged by the unduly high stakes awards, especially in juvenile races.”
The Form continued its coverage of the assassination through the following weekend, with front-page news items detailing the swearing-in of Lyndon Johnson and the Monday funeral. After that, most racetracks returned to normal, save for Narragansett (at the request of Rhode Island Governor John Chafee) and Rillito, which was meant to start its meet Nov. 23 and postponed a full week to Nov. 30.
Dean Carl upset older horses in the rescheduled Display Handicap the following week.
Kelso came back to the track for another campaign in 1964, when he would set the world record for two miles on the dirt in the Jockey Club Gold Cup and earn another Horse of the Year title. Whether writer David Alexander could have realized it as he was giving thanks for Kelso or not, the familiar sight of that plain bay loading into the starting gates would be one of the few things about the world that didn’t change on Nov. 22, 1963.
