Page 160 - Speedhorse February 2020

LIKE A WHEEL
Fred & Carolyn Helmuth: Wheels In The Fortune Of Racing
by Diane Rice
Illinois breeders/owners Fred and Carolyn Helmuth compare horse racing to a wheel. “Either you’re at the top or you’re at the bottom, and you always hope you won’t be at the bottom very long!” says Fred.
In their 31-plus years in the industry, Fred and Carolyn have ridden that wheel up and down more than once. Yet over the years, they’ve bred and owned some talented runners that put their Bella Vista Farms LLC on the Quarter Horse racing map.
THEIR BEGINNINGS
Fred, one of four children of Chris and Mattie Helmuth, was born in 1953 in Arcola, Illinois. Carolyn, one of six children born to Ruben and Ada Yutzy, was born the following year in Arthur, Illinois, about 10 miles northwest of Arcola.
The two met as teens at activities their churches held jointly and after graduating from high school, they wasted no time in getting married: Fred was 19 and Carolyn 18. That was in 1972.
In 1976, Fred and his father founded Okaw Truss, a family-run company that manufactures wood, steel and timber roof and floor trusses for commercial and residential buildings. Fred and his family also operated several other companies, including CHI Overhead Door, which they sold in 2004, when Fred went into semi-retirement.
In 1979, Fred and Carolyn’s daughter, Stephanie, was born, and the following year they welcomed their son, Brent, to their family.
Around 1986, the Helmuths moved from town to the country. “I decided I needed a riding horse,” Fred says, “so then, of course, Carolyn needed one, too. We bought this old broke-to-death mare and found out she was racing bred by Bill Huber, father of former AQHA President Johne Dobbs.
“Then we found out that John and Sherry Havener had lived close to us and trained racehorses, so in 1988, we decided to go up and find out what it was all about,” Fred adds.
“When we started out,” Sherry says, “even though we’re originally from about 30 miles from the Helmuths, we had moved to Kentucky to train. We came back to Pit Run Park in Gibson City, Illinois [about 70 miles north of Arcola], to meet Fred and Carolyn for a race.”
When Fred told John about his “racehorse,” John said, “I’m going to tell you right now, you probably don’t have a racehorse.”
But, Sherry says, John proceeded to tell Fred what he looked for in a racehorse.
When the Helmuths left, John told Sherry that he didn’t expect to hear from them again. But a couple of months later, Fred called back and told John he’d bought himself a racehorse. “He had listened to everything John had said, went to a sale and picked out one that had breeding behind it that could run,” Sherry said.
Their first stakes winner was Power Puff Derby, a 1988 mare by Divine Power and out of the Chicado Go daughter Derby
Day Surprise. The mare won $5,872 in her freshman and sophomore years — enough to keep Fred and Carolyn in the game.
“She won her first out in Paducah, Kentucky, and we bought her from Charlie Mullenix, who still races horses in Indiana,” Fred says. “I think I was almost as excited that night as I was when we won the Heritage (Place Futurity in 2015 with BV Midnite Express)!”
“That was exciting!” Carolyn agrees. “I don’t think I was quite as excited as Fred was — he ran down the track with her!”
158 SPEEDHORSE, February 2020
Now semi-retired, the Helmuths spend a lot of time in Sarasota, Florida, in the winter. Fred also collects antique tractors and participates in tractor pulls.