John, I’d like to save racing and turf journalism just so you always have something to write about, somewhere to publish. Not to be grandiose …

There were a couple things I really liked about this photo … Kelso, of course, coming out of the gate straight with his head low, already looking like the winner, and the starter in stall two, in his tie and hat, watching the field. As you said, those Life photographers were good.

Here’s my lead from Oct. 15, 2002 in the Washington Post:

– Few fans were around to see it, but racing royalty graced the Laurel Park winner’s circle yesterday as Allaire DuPont blew kisses to her 2-year-old homebred filly, Kitty Knight, and jockey Jean-Luc Saymn after they won the $60,000 Heavenly Cause Stakes. DuPont, 89, of Chesapeake City, Md., bred and raced legendary five- time horse of the year Kelso in the 1960s and long has been a force in blue-blood thoroughbred breeding and racing with her Bohemia Stable. –

This also reminds me of another old racing lover of unfathomable wealth, who I had the good fortune of lighting upon. Both Woodrow Marriott and Allaire DuPont came across as people who never let their vast fortunes go to their heads. Yes, they were privileged, but they seemed to me like just folks I would have enjoyed having lunch with.

From my story Feb. 6, 2005:

– Woodrow Marriott, struggling to get down the stairs to the Laurel Park winner’s circle, balled his right hand into a fist and shook it.

“For an invalid, not bad,” joked Marriott, 91, after his talented chestnut colt Malibu Moonshine won the $75,000 Miracle Wood Stakes for 3-year-olds.

Tall, lean and dapper in his suede Southwestern cowboy hat and turquoise bolo tie, Marriott cut a sharp if unsteady figure at Laurel yesterday, while his horse made a strong impression on the track. With a moment in the spotlight, Marriott told a few tales of his brother, J. Willard Marriott, opening an A&W root beer stand at the corner of 14th Street and Park Road NW in 1927… –