Jack Kelly dies, longtime chartcaller

Jack Kelly, a longtime chartcaller for Daily Racing Form and Equibase who was entrusted with the running lines for some of racing’s biggest events, died early on Monday at Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center in New York of complications of a blood disorder. Kelly was 61.

A native of Philadelphia, Kelly was a lifelong racing fan who first began calling charts in the early 1980s at the Fresno State Fair. He was hired by Daily Racing Form in 1984, and over the next 14 years was the primary chartcaller at East Coast tracks, as well as a columnist.

In 1998, after Daily Racing Form reached an agreement with Equibase that eliminated the Form’s chartcalling operations, Kelly was hired by Equibase as a field supervisor. In his role, he helped manage the chartcalling for the races in the Triple Crown and Breeders’ Cup.

In lieu of flowers, contributions can be made to The Jockey Club Foundation, 40 E. 52nd St., New York, NY, 10022.