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The First of the Legendary Caliente Safety Helmets
Countless lives and serious injuries have been avoided since the
introduction
of this type of helmet.
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Front view:
This two inch crack down the front of the helmet was incurred by the
rider hitting the ground. It takes 2000 pounds psi to crack one of
these. |
The interior:
the helmet had cross straps to keep the rider's head from
banging the top. It was heavily padded in the top and sides with
foam rubber. |
The back view:
The scars on the helmet resulted from being kicked in the head as
the horse behind attempted to jump over the fallen horse and
rider. |
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The Caliente Safety
Helmet
was one of the extraordinary innovations in a list of
horse racing
firsts
born of Caliente. Appropriately, it was the early recognition and
financial backing for research by Caliente's executive director,
John S.
Alessio, that gave to racing the remarkable
Caliente Safety Helmet.
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Superene
C. DeMello, up
March 24, 1956 |
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Prior to the Caliente Safety
Helmet it was not unusual to see a helmet on
the ground. |
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Click to enlarge and back to return |
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There was a long list
of
glittering personalities to emerge from Caliente.
The Daily Double and the first Public Address system was developed under
the inspiration of the legendary racing official
Judge George Schilling.
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The $100,000 Caliente
Handicap
was the forerunner of the now common Hundred Granders. Many great horses
including Phar Lap, Seabiscuit and Round Table were just a few of the
great ones who campaigned south of the border.
Round Table passed the million-dollar mark
by winning a Caliente Handicap renewal.
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The 4 time Leading Trainer of
America,
Willie Molter, rode at Caliente and started his amazing
training
career there.
The horses he trained are legendary i.e. Round Table,
Determined, Imbros,
etc.
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Caliente fostered the early
careers
of many of the most successful jockeys in history, like George
Woolf,
Johnny Longden and Eddie Arcaro.
Willie Shoemaker won his first national
championship on the final day of Caliente's 1950 season.
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True race fans flocked to
Caliente for their weekend races.
As an indication of its stature it ranked third in North America in total
attendance in 1961 and fifth in purse distribution in spite of running
just two days a week!
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You may also submit
your thoughts or memories of Caliente to
Second Running via the box below
and we will post them on the page.
 This
system does not register return
addresses.
You must include your correct e-mail for a
reply. |
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Thanks so much to Nicole
for the thoughts:
I started galloping
racehorses in Kentucky in 1996 and rode
on
and off the track and on training
centers around Lexington.
When I first got to Lexington I went to
the tack shop at the Training
Center on Paris Pike and bought my one
and only refurbished Caliente
helmet.
I retired from racehorses in 2005 and
took three years off, now in 2008 I
am back working with horses, only this
time I am working at the NY Horse
Rescue on Long Island. I dusted off my
old Caliente and got six rescue's
broke and several Thoroughbreds off the
track reconditioned and adopted.
I have often thought of how many horses
I have ridden with that helmet,
must be in the thousands over that ten
year stint, and how many times it
saved my butt. And also who else wore
that helmet before me and how many
horses they rode and how many times it
saved them.
And that's my Caliente story
Thank you,
Nicole Giorgetti
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