Freehold Raceway, Freehold Borough honor Harold Kelly
By tim morris
Staff Writer
Freehold Raceway honored one of its own Friday with Harold Kelly Appreciation Day,

The local driver signed autographs for fans in the morning. Freehold Borough Mayor Michael Wilson declared Friday Harold Kelly Day. Kelly was presented a plaque marking the formal declaration of Harold Kelly Day.

Kelly has been applying his trade as a harness driver at Freehold for close to 50 years. During that time, he has won 4,510 races and earned $19.3 million in purses. From the mid-1950’s to the mid-1990’s Kelly was a fixture atop the leading driver’s standings at the nation’s oldest continually operating daytime track. He won several driving titles during that span, with the first coming back in 1960.

Kelly’s finest season was in 1987, when he drove 292 winners. His best year for earnings was the following year, 1988, when his horses earned an aggregate of $1.96 million.

The best years for Kelly were the late 1980’s when Harness Hall of Famer Stanley Dancer asked him to drive for his stable. It proved to be a winning and lucrative combination. Kelly won several big races for Dancer, including the $653,250 Sweetheart Final at the Meadowlands with Concertina.

Dancer and Concertina came to Kelly’s mind as he reminisced about his outstanding career.

"I’ve driven a lot of nice horses over the years, but the best one would have to be Concertina," he said. "I have a lot of people to thank, so many who have helped me along the way. But Stanley is the one who gave me my biggest break. For a few years he let me drive all of his best horses."

In addition to the Sweetheart Final win, Kelly also scored major wins at the Hambletonian Oaks, the Lady Suffolk, the Lou Babic Memorial and the Molly Pitcher.

Kelly, always one of Freehold Raceway’s most popular drivers, earned the nickname ‘Red Hot’ Harold Kelly when he was on a winning streak. He drove many of the raceway’s most popular horses such as Alvoc, Caramore, My Bill Forwood and Mr JW.

Of all the horses his has driven, Kelly said that State Time was his all-time favorite.

"He was good, hard-knocking and honest and he was always there week after week," Kelly said.

State Time raced for 13 years, winning 24 races and bankrolling $216,914 in purses. Kelly also trained the colt.

Kelly’s distinguished career led to his induction in the Jersey Shore Sports Hall of Fame in 1993.