Enthusiasm and a genuine love for the sport, said Kentucky horseman Charles Nuckols, are two reasons why Russell L. Reineman has been successful at breeding and racing Thoroughbreds for more than 35 years.

Reineman, president of Chicago, Ill., based Crown Steel Sales Inc., currently is enjoying the campaign of his 3-year-old Wise Times. After scoring grade I victories over divisional rivals in New York, New Jersey, and Louisiana, Wise Times is a contender for divisional and Horse of the Year honors.

A championship campaign of another era was enjoyed by Reineman and his wife nearly a quarter-century ago. In 1962, the couple's homebred Smart Deb won major stakes in the East and Midwest and was voted co-champion 2year-old filly (with Mrs. Ethel D. Jacobs' Affectionately). Smart Deb, now 26, is a pensioner at Nuckols Farm near Midway, Ky.

"When I travel to Kentucky I always visit Nuckols Farm to see my mares. When I see Smart Deb it almost brings a tear to my eye because she brought my wife and I some of the greatest joys we have experienced,'' said Reineman.

Smart Deb was one of 12 stakes winners bred by Reineman and raced in the red, black, and white silks of his wife. Reineman has bred a total of 22 stakes winners. Shortly after his wife's death in 1973, Reineman formed a leasing arrangement with Alfred and Charles Nuckols, whereby foals produced from Reineman's mares were bred in the name of Nuckols Brothers and raced in Reineman's name. (The Nuckols brothers now have separate operations.)

Reineman has campaigned 16 stakes winners since 1973. Currently, he has approximately 45 horses in training with as many as seven trainers at tracks in the Midwest and East. Reineman each year sends what appear to be his two most promising racing prospects to his longtime trainer Woody Stephens. Wise Times is trained by Philip Gleaves, a protege of Stephens.

Born in Pittsburgh, Pa., on Dec. 2, 1917, Reineman grew up the son of a hotel manager As a youngster, he often would be escorted to the races at Wheeling Downs in West Virginia and Thistledown in Ohio by his uncle, trainer Charles Weightman. (Weightman trained Eagle River to win the 1950 Princeton Handicap at Garden State Park.) Reineman recalls that when he was a youngster, minors were forbidden from entering most race tracks.  "My uncle would put a floppy hat on my head and tell the race track attendant at the gate I was a midget,'' he recalled.

Reineman at 16 went to work as a clerk in the claims department of the United States Steel Corporation. Several years later, he was transferred to Chicago, Ill., where the claims division of U. S. Steel was headquartered. It was in Chicago that Reineman met his wife.

In 1941, Reineman left U. S. Steel to work for his brother, Howard, owner of Crown Steel Sales Inc., a steel distributor located on the west side of Chicago. Reineman bought his brother's interest in the company in 1955.

In 1951, Reineman and his wife purchased their first racing prospects from Reineman's brother, who at the time owned Crown Crest Farm near Lexington. Reineman and his wife later began a breeding operation when they claimed the mare Flying Tassle for $2,500 from Marion H. Van Berg. Flying Tassle produced the Reineman's first stakes winners, Blue Tassle and Bold Bid. When Howard Reineman sold his Central Kentucky nursery, the late A. B. (Bull) Hancock advised Reineman to board his mares with the Nuckols brothers.

After Blue Tassle, Bold Bid, and champion Smart Deb came several other prominent stakes winners for Reineman. They included Mongo's Pride, Go With the Times, Bask, and Sweetest Chant. Reineman also became involved in race track ownership in Illinois. During the mid-1950s, he owned a majority interest in Lincoln Fields and served as president of Balmoral Jockey Club.

Reineman, who resides in the Chicago suburb of Oakbrook, said his greatest love is racing. He has photo albums on a coffee table at his house containing pictures of each of the horses which have carried the Reineman colors to victory. The successful homebreds, he said, are his favorites.

''My enthusiasm is just as great as ever,'' he said. ''When I lose my enthusiasm, I don't want to be associated with racing because I would be losing the greatest aspect of this sport.

''You get a greater thrill and satisfaction when you race your own babies. To me it is the ultimate. It builds your enthusiasm for the next crop coming up because you may still have the mother, or a half-brother, or half-sister," he added, noting that he no longer owns Wise Times' dam, but does own the colt's 2-year-old half-sister, Timely Tunes.

Reineman currently owns approximately 36 mares, which are boarded at Charles Nuckols' farm. He frequently culls his breeding stock and introduces new bloodlines into the broodmare band.

''I enjoy the game as a sport, but I have to operate it as a business. If I didn't, I would keep every horse I have ever owned,'' he said.

Reineman plans his business days so he can attend the races at nearby Chicago tracks as often as three to four times a week. He enjoys taking business associates to the track to watch his horses run.

''I'm not knocking the steel business," he said, ''but it's not quite the same as seeing one of your horses win a maiden race.''

THE BLOOD-HORSE OF OCTOBER 4,1986