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Gene
Reigle drives Artsplace in a race. Reigle was a legend not only in
Darke County
but throughout
Ohio and surrounding states as well. Reigle passed away last
fall and the inaugural Gene Reigle Memorial
will be contested on August 24 at
the Great Darke County Fair. As always,
admission to the harness races will be
free.
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Remembering
the best there was
By
Don McDermott
Former
Sports Editor, Daily Advocate
September 23, 1993 is the signature day in Gene Riegle's life as a
harness
racing Hall of Fame trainer, driver and owner. It was the day Life
Sign, a
3-year-old colt driven by another Hall of Famer, John Campbell, won the
Little
Brown Jug, one of pacing's prestigious Triple Crown events at the
Delaware
County Fairgrounds in rural central Ohio.
The win by Life Sign, in a down-to-the-wire dual with Riyadh, ended
three years
marked by dreams shattered and great success realized. In 1991, illness
prevented Artsplace, one of the fastest harness horses in history, from
competing in the Jug. In 1992, Western Hanover's loss by a nose to Fake
Left
and Ron Waples in the final Jug heat, denied that stellar horse the
Triple
Crown and devastated the Riegle entourage.
I was at the Delaware County Fairgrounds in both 1992 and 1993 and
would get to
see several more Little Brown Jug races before I retired from the
Greenville Daily
Advocate in 2001 and moved to Las Vegas, in the Great American Desert.
The only
harness racing I see now is on the video screens at sports books in Las
Vegas
casinos. There is no county fair where I live now. I am in Nye
County,
which covers about 18,300 square miles, about half the size of the
state of
Indiana. The biggest racing event here is a 543-mile off-road event
featuring
cars, trucks and motorcycles and ATV/quads.
Every time I watch one of the standard breds race, I think about those
emotional, historic, exciting and dramatic days I spent at the Delaware
County
Fairgrounds, as well as at the Great Darke County Fair every August.
And one
couldn't help to look beyond the fence in turn three, where the Riegle
homestead and stables are located.
What was constant all three years was Gene Riegle's focus… win or lose.
There
were no recriminations in 1992, after Western Hanover, a truly super
horse, was
beaten at the wire by Fake Left, whose driver. Waples, was the last to
rein a
Triple Crown winner, Ralph Hanover, in 1983. Riegle already knew he
would be back
in the Triple Crown chase.
"I
have one or two horses back home getting ready to come here next year,"
said Riegle, as he stood outside of his stables at the Delaware County
Fairgrounds. In his post-victory media session in 1993, Riegle said he
was
going to have to miss the winners' banquet. As family members, and Life
Sign
owner, Chicago businessman George Segal, gathered around, Riegle
explained.
"We've got a big schedule ahead," said Riegle, as his grandson,
Travis Duffy stood by listening quietly. "We'll be heading to Lexington
(Ky) to look at some colts... and we have some horses down there we're
going to
have to work."
."Can I go, Grandpa?" Travis asked eagerly. A year earlier, Travis
had been in tears, while others were struggling to contain their
disappointment
after Western Hanover's stunning loss.
This
time, Riegle smiled, but already his mind was racing ahead to determine
what his
next move was. After
all, the 1994
Little Brown Jug and pacing's Triple Crown season were less than 11
months
away..
"This
win," Riegle said, finally displaying elation and happiness, "is
icing on the cake ... I finally got it."
Harness
racing returns to the Darke County Fairgrounds on Friday, August 17,
with the
entire harness racing meet dedicated to the memory of Gene Riegle, who
died
October 17, 2011, at age 83.
I
imagine that there will be many other accounts on his life over the
next few
days. For me, however, his strength of character and the grace he
displayed on
the days he sustained his most devastating loss and realized a lifelong
dream
will always be foremost in my memories of Gene Riegle.
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