Edward I. Kelly Sr.
Edward Ignatius "Eddie" Kelly Sr. was a Thoroughbred racehorse trainer.Biography
Born in Baltimore, Maryland, he was the younger brother, by two years, of Thomas J. Kelly. In the mid 1930s, the brothers went to work for J. W. Y. Martin, a trainer and racehorse stable proprietor who owned Snow Hill Farm, in Glyndon, Maryland in the Worthington Valley. In 1937, Eddie Kelly went to work in Kentucky for Edward Moore's Circle M Ranch. However, both brothers had their careers interrupted when they joined the United States armed forces during World War II.
Eddie Kelly served with the Army in Europe, and was a decorated War Hero, receiving the Purple Heart, Bronze Star Medal and Oak Leaf Cluster. Following his discharge at war's end he returned to horse racing and in 1945 obtained his training license. In 1949 he was hired by Baltimore clothing manufacturer Harry Isaacs to train for his Brookfield Farm racing stable. Brookfield would be Kelly's major client for the next forty two years until Isaacs' death in 1990.
Most notable among the horses trained by Eddie Kelly was Intentionally, the 1959 American Champion Sprint Horse. He also owned horses he trained and raced including Lucky Coin, winner of the Kelso Handicap who also set a Belmont Park turf course record of 1:32.00 for one mile.
Eddie Kelly retired in 1993. He died at age 83 in 2004 at his home in Brooksville, Florida. He and wife Margaret had three children. Daughter Mary Colleen and sons Edward Jr. and Michael.
