Greenville native Kayne Kauffman got into racing early in life, and guided a total stranger – Shamwow – to a wire-to-wire win in the $40,000 Gene Riegle Memorial Thursday night at the Great Darke County Fair. (Press Pros File Photos)
A big night for the Darke County Fair, and a big night for harness racing in Greenville as a local does the legacy of Gene Riegle proud. And proves…that you cannot have the town, and the fair, without racing.
Greenville, OH — Kayne Kauffman and Shamwow were complete strangers to each other, their paths never crossed.
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They got acquainted Thursday, in a big white barn at the top of the stretch at the Great Darke County Fairgrounds harness track.
Kayne, meet Shamwow.
Shamwow, meet Kayne.
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After the not-so-formal introductions, Kauffman and Shamwow teamed up to win the $40,000 Gene Riegle Memorial Pace, a one-mile trip in 1:53.
In the race prior to the Gene Riegle, Dan Noble, ‘The $70 Million Man,’ went wire-to-wire behind Caviar Gold to win the $40,000 Jim Buchy Trot in 1:55 2/5, two-fifths of a second off the track record in a field of eight with lifetime earnings of more than $3.5 million.
It was a hefty county fair pay day for Noble. The $30,000 John Robinson Memorial, had been scheduled for Wednesday but was rained out. So they reset it for before Thursday’s regular program in front of a large and vociferous gathering and Noble made it a profitable evening by guiding Woodrow Blue Chip across the wire first, start-to-finish.
Noble also was listed as the driver for Charlie May in the Gene Riegle, a pacer that has won more than $2.5 million, the same gelding that won the 2023 Gene Riegel with a record 1:50 with Brett Miller in the sulky.
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But Charlie May was mysteriously scratched before the race, “And I didn’t even know it until the post parade,” said Kauffman. “That helped out.”
Maybe so, but Kauffman guided Shamwow on a perfect trip and it was a huge win for a guy who grew up eight miles south of Greenville, in Arcanum.
“That’s big, coming home and winning this race,” he said. “Ever since they came out with it (15 years ago)…so close to home, you want to win it. It’s not The Jug, but it’ll do.
Family and friends join Kayne Kauffman in the winner’s circle after his win in the Gene Riegle Memorial.
“I felt this was the best shot I had going into it,” he said. “I’ve never driven him, but what a class old horse. He is 10 years old and he has had such a super year already.”
Shamwow pulled Kauffman to the track with a 15-2-3-2 line and $31,386 in winnings for this year. So he more than doubled his earnings with the $40,000 purse.
“The big guy is smarter than me,” Kauffman said with a winner’s twinkle and a winner’s laugh, referring to Shamwow, who had nothing to say after saying it all on the track.
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“I can’t say enough about Walter Haynes,” said Kauffman, who then said alot about Shamwow’s trainer. “I’ve driven horses for him off and on for years.
“Walter does a fantastic job and always brings horses to the track ready to go,” he added.
Shamwow was ready to go, and went.
Who’s more proud than Mom? GLoria Kauffman celebrates with son Kayne following his Thursday win in the Gene Riegle Memorial.
Of his wire-to-wire ride, Kauffman said, “The horse first over, Ahh Back…I’d driven that little horse and he’s a nice horse. It was kinda tough sleddin’ for him being first over in that group of horses.”
Kauffman’s proud parents, Steve and Gloria, were trackside and barn celebrants after the race.
“I’ve never told this story before,” said Steve. “Kayne used to come to this barn right where we’re standings when he was 15.”
Dad Steve bought him a horse and Kayne nearly took up residence with it in the Darke County fairgrounds barn.
“I lost my son when he was 15, because he came to this barn every day. And I finally said, ‘I can’t drive up here every day.’ I had my life to work, so I gave him a car.
“He drove for a year up here, the eight miles from Arcanum, every day and he never got in trouble,” he said with a puffy chest. “How many kids could you trust doing that?”
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It is because Kayne loved horses, and his horse particularly, that he wasn’t about to break stride and lose his car and his horse. Especially his horse.
“I did it with him because I trusted him and I said, ‘If you screw it up, the horse is gone,’” Father Kauffman said.
The horse stayed.
Would there be Ohio harness racing without Jim Buchy? The former Ohio state representative was on hand for the action at Thursday’s Great Darke County Fair.
“I never had an issue with him,” he added. “He got his fair license to drive horses before he got his driver’s license. His grandpa took him over to Columbus when he was 18 for his pari-mutuel license.”
Kauffman, a guy with a soft touch with horses, has the same soft touch with the human race. He is personable and positive about everything.
“He don’t ever run anybody down,” said his dad, Steve.
Well, he does run down some horses when he is behind.
But he didn’t have to run any horse down in the Gene Riegel. Once the wings folded back, Shamwow and Kauffman were long gone…two strangers who ended up in county fair harness racing paradise.
The Great Darke County Fair harness racing is Ohio’s best and most lucrative. It is the Indianapolis 500 of Ohio harness racing, an event that draws star pari-mutuel drivers like Dan Noble.
And pari-mutuel stars from Scioto Downs take the night off from the Columbus track to chase the big money at the Greenville track.
Pari-mutuel drive Austin Hanners won two events Thursday, while Columbus regulars like Brett Miller, Ronnie Gillespie, Cameron McCown and Luke Ebersole were in sulkies for the 12-event evening.
More than 2,000 fans sat in the typical rickety grandstands built back when Packards were driven and people watched their Muntz TVs.
And for Kauffman, the daily eight-mile trips to and from Arcanum would eventually pay off.
To a most lucrative one-mile trip Thursday night, a $40,000 trip twice around the Darke County Fairgrounds track.
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