Page 220 - August 2017

Lasting Legacy
Painted Turnpike becomes APHA’s new lifetime leading Paint racehorse.
by Mary Huddleston
Track aficionados have been waiting and watching to see if Painted Turn- pike could break the longstanding
record for APHA lifetime racehorse earnings, and the talented stallion did not disappoint. His July 8, 2017, win in the Lewis Wartchow Paint & Appaloosa Stakes at Fair Meadows Racetrack launched Painted Turnpike into the role as APHA’s new lifetime leading Paint racehorse by money earned.
Special From The Start
Owned and bred by Nolan Pevehouse of Webbers Falls, OK, Painted Turnpike is a 2013 bay solid stallion by PYC Paint Your Wagon QH out of the Royal Quick Flash mare High Class Turnpike. Affectionately known as “PT,” the glistening muscles of the deep bay stallion grabbed attention since he was a youngster.
“We got him as a yearling and knew there was something special about him from day one,” trainer Matt Whitekiller said. “We always thought he was pretty fast, but I remember the first race he ran in we realized he was actually
a whole lot faster than we thought. He romped
that horse up; it was crazy. After that, we knew he was fast because he kept destroying the field.”
An accomplished trainer, Matt Whitekiller has been in the racing industry for more than 30 years. Ten of those years were spent training under Lewis Wartchow, an Oklahoma Horse Racing Hall of Fame trainer known as the “King of Paints.” In his days with Lewie, Matt came across Paint racing greats such as Texas Hero, but says no horse compares to Painted Turnpike.
“This little horse is just fast, and that is all there is to it,” Whitekiller said. “He proves it time and time again by the times he puts up. It seems like if his times weren’t better than before, they’d at least be matched.”
In his 2-year-old season in 2015, Painted Turnpike was hard to beat; in nine starts, he captured eight wins and one second, including five stakes wins and posted a 92 speed index. He was the first horse in history to sweep
the Speedhorse Triple Crown by winning all three Grade 1 Speedhorse Paint & Appaloosa futurity races.
The talented colt began his feat by win- ning the $213,500 Speedhorse Graham Paint & Appaloosa Futurity-G1, the richest Paint & Appaloosa Futurity in the world, at Rem- ington Park on May 30. Next, he scored a 1 1/4-length victory in the $86,890 Speedhorse Paint & Appaloosa Futurity-G1 at Tulsa Fair Meadows on July 25. He wrapped up the Triple Crown after going wire-to-wire over a sloppy track winning the $89,780 Speedhorse Lone Star Paint & Appaloosa Futurity-G1 by 1 1/2-lengths at Lone Star Park on Oct. 30.
“All of the racing memories with him are my favorite. From the night he accomplished the Triple Crown to the downpour of the Lone Star,” Whitekiller said. “Even his defeat as a 2 year old where he stumbled real bad and came in second. You can only really worry about your horse. Just going to the gate thinking of all the things that could go wrong and then breathing when he is finally done is a relief.”
With earnings of nearly $230,000 in his inaugural racing season, Painted Turnpike finished 2015 as the year’s highest-earning
218 SPEEDHORSE, August 2017
Painted Turnpike breeder/owner Nolan Pevehouse won a new 4-Star aluminum trailer, a $35,000 discount toward the purchase of a SportChassis heavy-duty truck, and a $5,000 Hi-Point bonus for winning the Speedhorse Triple Crown.
PAINT HORSE BULLETIN