When Conley H. Segraves Sr. got married in 1997, the ceremony was on the same day as the Belmont Stakes horse race.

Mr. Segraves' one request was that the wedding be over in time for him to watch the race.

Marcia Risch Segraves, who knew what she was getting into when she agreed to marry the former jockey, wasn't offended.

"He was a very kind and gentle person and very much in love with horses," she said.

Mr. Segraves, who also had been a trainer, breeder and manager at the former Saxony Farms, died Tuesday in the Good Samaritan Hospice at Concordia Lutheran Services in the Cabot section of Winfield. He died of complications from progressive supranuclear palsy at age 78.

Mr. Segraves' career with Saxony Farms, a thoroughbred breeding and training facility, began in the late 1950s and continued until his retirement a decade ago. During that time, he oversaw the breeding of more than 400 racehorses. Some, such as Addy Bug, went on to become multistakes winners.

Born in Grassy Creek, N.C., Mr. Segraves was the son of a dairy farmer and took an early interest in horses. His family moved near the Elkridge Harford Hunt Club in Monkton, Md., where he got a job exercising horses.

By the mid-1940s, Mr. Segraves had become a jockey. He recorded 14 wins, 16 places, and more than $36,000 in purses in 1948, his best year.

At 5 feet, 7 inches tall, he did not have the ideal body type for racing. He joined the armed forces in the early '50s and, after his discharge, found it impossible to keep his weight low enough to continue.

He went to work for the late D. Lee Reynolds as assistant manager of the former Keystone Stables in Saxonburg, later becoming the manager of the Reynolds family's Saxony Farms.

Mr. Reynold's son, Daniel Reynolds, of McCandless, described him as a personable and enthusiastic man who always wore a smile on his face.

"He loved what he did and he loved being around horses," he said.

Mr. Segraves also served on the board of the Pennsylvania Horse Breeders Association.

In addition to his wife, he is survived by a son, Conley H. Segraves Jr., of Saxonburg; a daughter, Jill M. Segraves, of Arlington, Va.; three brothers, James and Miles, both of Forest Hill, Md., and Charles, of St. Charles, Ill.; and a sister, Virginia Choate, of Oakland, Md.

He was preceded in death by his first wife, Nancy Lee Rudert Segraves.

A funeral was held Friday in Saxonburg Memorial Presbyterian Church. Burial was in the church cemetery.