Breeder of Harness Champions
Hall of Fame - Three Diamonds
p,2,1:56; 3,1:53.1 Earnings: $735,759
M, 1979 By Albatross-Ambiguity, by Bret Hanover
Background & Current Status:
Bred by: Kentuckiana Farms
Sale history: 1980 Kentucky Standardbred Sale Yearling ($100,000)
Owned by: George Segal
Trained by: Gene Riegle
Current status: Deceased
Racing Credentials:
World Champion as both a 2 and 3-year-old (3-year-old World Champion over all-sized tracks). Voted “2-Year-Old Pacing Filly of the Year” and “3-Year-Old Pacing Filly of the Year.” As a 3-year-old, the year’s richest filly or mare pacer of 1982 with $502,270.
Major Stakes Victories:
At 2: Debutante S., Countess Adios, John Chapman Memorial and Sweetheart Consolation. At 3: Mistletoe Shalee, Tarport Hap, Adioo Volo, Jugette, American-National, James Lynch Memorial, Helen Dancer Memorial and Bluegrass S.
Just how great was Three Diamonds? Great enough to have one of the classic races for 2-year-old filly pacers named in her honor; and great enough for enshrinement as an immortal in the Harness Racing Hall of Fame.
Three Diamonds was purchased by George Segal as a yearling and renamed for his love of bridge. After a racing career laden with championships and awards, she herself would become a bridge to the future. She helped form the nucleus of fillies and mares that shaped Segal’s Brittany Farms—and put it on a fast track to success—when it began operations in 1986.
Three Diamonds’ production as a broodmare matched her racing exploits. She became one of the greatest producers of all time, as her sons and daughters—and their offspring—are found throughout the pedigrees of many of the sport’s greatest pacers.
She is the dam of World Champion, $1.9-million winner and successful sire Life Sign and multiple stakes winner Threefold, and granddam of champion racehorse and leading sire American Ideal. More superstars like champions American Jewel, Eternal Camnation and more recently Bettor's Wish trace their maternal lineage directly to the immortal Three Diamonds.
