Kelly Kip, shrouded in early morning fog.
Kelly Kip, one of Thoroughbred racing's top sprinters who last fall because of a leg injury, will enter stud at Barbara and David La Croix' Meadowbrook Farms of the Ocala Jockey Club in Ocala, Fla., where he will stand for $3,500 this year. He is being syndicated at a cost of $12,500 per share. A Hobeau Farm homebred trained by Hall of Famer Allen Jerkens, Kelly Kip won 15 of 31 starts with earnings of more than $1.1 million. His eight graded stakes wins include the Frank J. De Francis Memorial Dash Stakes (gr. II), the Forest Hills (gr. II) and A Penomenon (gr. II) Handicaps, and consecutive renewals of the Bold Ruler Handicap (gr. III), in both of which he set an Aqueduct track record. In his last start, he finished sixth in the Forest Hills Handicap (gr. II) at Belmont Park.After setting the Belmont Park five-furlong track record at :55 3/5 in his first career start, Kelly Kip won at six furlongs in less than 1:09 seven times. In addition to the Belmont Park record in his first start, Kelly Kip set three other track records. He ran six furlongs at Finger Lakes in 1:08 1/5 and twice set the Aqueduct six-furlong record, first at 1:07 3/5, then again at 1:07 2/5.Kelly Kip's speed impressed his trainer, who said, "Kelly Kip is the fastest horse I have been around."A precocious colt at two, Kelly Kip won four of five starts by a total of 21 lengths. Among those victories was the grade III Sanford Stakes at Saratoga defeating eventual two-year-old champion Boston Harbor.After a 3-year-old campaign that was compromised by illness, Kelly Kip regained his best form at age four, winning six of 12 starts including a string of three consecutive graded stakes. At five, Kelly Kip was perfect in two starts, including a victory over eventual champion sprinter Artax in the Bold Ruler. Kelly Kip zipped through fractions of :21 3/5, :43 3/5 en route to a 2 1/2-length victory in final time of 1:07 2/5.A Florida-bred son of Kipper Kelly, Kelly Kip descends from the family of Handsome Boy and Blessing Angelica.
