Trainer Richard “Richie” Scherer, who enjoyed success at tracks throughout the Midwest and in his native Louisiana, died May 20 at age 53.

Scherer battled papillary kidney cancer for several years. His brother, Merrill Scherer, reported Richie Scherer’s death and saluted him on social media.

“I’ve had many sports athletes that I’ve looked up to growing up as a kid, but really I only had two heroes: my older brothers Richie Scherer and Gary Scherer. A little past midnight on May 20 I lost one of those heroes, my oldest brother Richie,” Merrill Scherer wrote. “After nearly a five-year bout with cancer—which he won by the way he lived his life—Richie is now cancer free and in heaven, where he belongs with all the other angels.”

Richie Scherer trained horses along with his brother Gary and father Merrill. In December 2008, all three won a race on a single card at their hometown track, Fair Grounds Race Course & Slots.

Gary Scherer noted on Facebook that “the rail will never be the same,” following the loss of his brother.

Among Richie Scherer’s 65 black-type stakes wins are five graded victories: the 2012 Colonel E. R. Bradley Handicap (G3T) at Fair Grounds with Mr. Vegas, the 2004 Mervin H. Muniz Jr. Memorial Handicap (G2T) at Fair Grounds with Mystery Giver, the 1999 Hawthorne Derby (G3T) with Minor Wisdom, and the 1999 Locust Grove Handicap (G3) and Ashland Mile Stakes (G3) both at Churchill Downs and both won by Shires Ende.

Richie Scherer secured his first stakes win in 1990 at Canterbury Parkwith Hero’s Countess.