Raleigh Wiseman Memorial Service and
Race
Wednesday,
November 15, 2006 - by David Siegel,
Director, CHHA
California harness racing suffered a great
loss with the passing of Raleigh Wiseman this past weekend.
Raleigh was involved in a fatal car accident on Saturday
night.
Raleigh has been a fixture in western harness racing for the
last 50 years. Raleigh’s dad entered the business in the
1950s and Raleigh drove for him at the fairs in Washington
and California. More recently, Raleigh trained a small
stable at Cal-Expo.
His wife Mary and his two sons Ken and Steve survive
Raleigh. Raleigh was quite proud of both his sons and had
the pleasure of working daily with his son Steve, who drove
Raleigh’s last winner, Melt Down, on October 13th. Raleigh’s
pride and joy were his three grandchildren, Tyler, Brian and
Chelsea. He had hoped to see one or more of them in a sulky
someday.
The industry will mourn the loss of Raleigh on Friday
(November 17th) at Cal-Expo where there will be a memorial
service at 3pm at the track’s chapel on the backside. After
the service, Sacramento Harness Association will honor
Raleigh at a buffet reception to be held in the Turf Club.
The sixth race on Friday’s (11-17-06) program is The Raleigh
Wiseman Memorial Pace. The race will be followed by a brief
ceremony in the winner’s circle where Raleigh’s immediate
family is expected to attend.
