Glen Eldon Nelson is a retired American jockey

Jockey

A jockey is an athlete who rides horses in horse racing or steeplechase racing, primarily as a profession. The word also applies to camel riders in camel racing.-Etymology:...

 in the sport of Thoroughbred

Thoroughbred

The Thoroughbred is a horse breed best known for its use in horse racing. Although the word thoroughbred is sometimes used to refer to any breed of purebred horse, it technically refers only to the Thoroughbred breed...

 horse racing

Horse racing

Horse racing is an equestrian sport that has a long history. Archaeological records indicate that horse racing occurred in ancient Babylon, Syria, and Egypt. Both chariot and mounted horse racing were events in the ancient Greek Olympics by 648 BC...

 who competed primarily at tracks on the East Coast of the United States

East Coast of the United States

The East Coast of the United States, also known as the Eastern Seaboard, refers to the easternmost coastal states in the United States, which touch the Atlantic Ocean and stretch up to Canada. The term includes the U.S...

 and who is best known for winning the 1972 Preakness Stakes

Preakness Stakes

The Preakness Stakes is an American flat Thoroughbred horse race for three-year-olds held on the third Saturday in May each year at Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore, Maryland. It is a Grade I race run over a distance of 9.5 furlongs on dirt. Colts and geldings carry 126 pounds ; fillies 121 lb...

.

In 1948, Eldon Nelson married Betty Rose Coffman (1930–2005) with whom he had two children.

During a career that spaned four decades, Nelson rode for some of the leading stables in the country including Henry and Jane Lunger's Christiana Stables, Isabel Dodge Sloane's

Isabel Dodge Sloane

Isabel Cleves Dodge Sloane was an American heiress and socialite who owned a major Thoroughbred horse racing stable and breeding farm....

  Brookmeade Stable

Brookmeade Stable

Brookmeade Stable was a successful thoroughbred horse racing stable owned by heiress and socialite Isabel Dodge Sloane. Sloane first won using the name Brookmeade Stable at the Manly Memorial Steeplechase at Pimlico in 1924....

, as well as the renowned Calumet Farm

Calumet Farm

Calumet Farm is a Thoroughbred breeding and training farm established in 1924 in Lexington, Kentucky, United States by William Monroe Wright, founding owner of the Calumet Baking Powder Company. Calumet is located in the heart of Lexington's blue grass country, the finest horse breeding region in...

. On February 28, 1949 at Hialeah Park Race Track

Hialeah Park Race Track

The Hialeah Park Race Track is a historic site in Hialeah, Florida. Its site covers 40 square blocks of central-east side Hialeah from Palm Avenue east to East 4th Avenue, and from East 22nd Street on the south to East 32nd Street on the north. On March 5, 1979, it was added to the U.S...

 in Hialeah, Florida

Hialeah, Florida

Hialeah is a city in Miami-Dade County, Florida, United States. As of the 2000 census, the city population was 226,419. As of 2009, the population estimate by the U. S...

 he rode Calumet's future U.S. Racing Hall of Fame

National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame

The National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame was founded in 1950 in Saratoga Springs, New York, to honor the achievements of American thoroughbred race horses, jockeys, and trainers...

 colt Coaltown

Coaltown

Coaltown was an American Hall of Fame Champion Thoroughbred racehorse of whom the New York Times said "was probably the most underrated Thoroughbred of the 20th Century."...

 to a win that equalled the world record of 1:47 3/5 for a mile-and-an-eighth on dirt.
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,799876,00.html?promoid=googlep

American Classic Races

Eldon Nelson had two mounts in the Belmont Stakes

Belmont Stakes

The Belmont Stakes is an American Grade I stakes Thoroughbred horse race held every June at Belmont Park in Elmont, New York. It is a 1.5-mile horse race, open to three year old Thoroughbreds. Colts and geldings carry a weight of 126 pounds ; fillies carry 121 pounds...

 with his best result in 1957 when he rode Inside Tract to a second-place finish behind Gallant Man

Gallant Man

Gallant Man was a thoroughbred racehorse, named for a horse in a Don Ameche movie.- Career at Kentucky Derby:Gallant Man is remembered primarily for his upset loss in the 1957 Kentucky Derby...

. On May 29, 1972, the forty-four-year-old Nelson earned the most important win of his career. In his fourth mount in the Preakness Stakes, the second leg of the U.S. Triple Crown

United States Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing

In the United States, the "Triple Crown" is usually the Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing, a series of three Thoroughbred horse races for three-year-old horses run in May and early June of each year consisting of the Kentucky Derby, Preakness Stakes, and Belmont Stakes.While Daily Racing Form...

 series, on a sloppy Pimlico Race Course

Pimlico Race Course

Pimlico Race Course is a horse racetrack in Baltimore, Maryland, most famous for hosting the Preakness Stakes. Its name is derived from the 1660s when English settlers named the area where the facility currently stands in honor of Olde Ben Pimlico's Tavern in London...

 he rode the William S. Farish III colt Bee Bee Bee

Bee Bee Bee

Bee Bee Bee was an American Thoroughbred racehorse best known for winning the 1972 Preakness Stakes. To date Bee Bee Bee is only one of eight Maryland-bred colts to win the Preakness and one of only eleven from the state to win a triple crown race.He was sired by multiple stakes winner Better Bee,...

 to victory.

Eldon Nelson retired in 1973. He and his wife returned to live on their farm near Cedar Vale, Kansas

Cedar Vale, Kansas

Cedar Vale is a city in Chautauqua County, Kansas, United States. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 579.-Geography:Cedar Vale is located at...

.