Thomas Joseph Kelly (September 23, 1919 – April 19, 2013) was a United States Racing Hall of Fame trainer of Thoroughbred racehorses as well as an owner and breeder.
[1] Born in Pikesville, Maryland, in his teens he began working at the Baltimore racetrack, as did his younger brother, Eddie.
[2] His learning of the business from the bottom up was interrupted by service with the United States military during World War II in which he received two Purple Hearts.
He trained several very successful horses for owner John M. Schiff including Plugged Nickle, the 1980 American Champion Sprint Horse, and Droll Role, a top runner on both dirt and grass and a winner of the 1972 Canadian International Stakes at Woodbine Racetrack in Canada and the Washington, D.C. International Stakes at the Laurel Park Racecourse in his native Maryland.
[4] In 1998, Kelly's final year as a trainer, a colt he had bred in partnership with Joseph and Mary Grant was foaled in Kentucky.