Page 25 - December 2015

When we look back on 2015, we will remember it as the year of the “Triple Crown” with American Pharoah winning the Kentucky Derby, Preakness Stakes and Belmont Stakes. It took 37 years to get this latest Thoroughbred Triple Crown winner. But, American Pharoah isn’t the only Triple Crown winner in 2015 as Painted Turnpike became the first winner of the Speedhorse Paint & Appaloosa Triple Crown series.
The Speedhorse Paint and Appaloosa Triple Crown includes the Speedhorse Graham Paint & Appaloosa Futurity-G1 at Remington Park, the Speedhorse Paint & Appaloosa Futurity-G1 at Fair Meadows, and the Speedhorse Lone Star Paint & Appaloosa Futurity-G1 at Lone Star Park. The Triple Crown win by Painted Turnpike came in the fourth renewal of this racing series.
Painted Turnpike is owned and bred by Nolan Pevehouse of Webber Falls, Oklahoma, and trained by Matt Whitekiller. Painted Turnpike not only won the Speedhorse Paint and Appaloosa Triple Crown, but he added the Oklahoma Paint and Appaloosa Futurity-G1 to his resume giving him four grade one wins for the year. He won seven of his eight starts and earned $216,436. He is the leading Paint horse money winner for 2015 and the number six all-time leading money winner in the America Paint Horse Association.
The story of Painted Turnpike begins
back with a mare named Turnpike Patty, who started Nolan Pevehouse on the road to success as a racehorse owner, trainer and breeder. A
recent interview with Pevehouse starts us at the beginning. “It goes back to the 1960’s when
I was teaching at what was then Oklahoma A&M and I left there to go to work for the IRS,” Pevehouse said. “It was through an
IRS audit that I met Walter Spencer, a halter horse man. Walter had sold a halter horse for $100,000 and that brought on the audit.
“Walter had a very good eye for horses with conformation. Didn’t know anything about the potential for the bloodlines as far as the racing part of it. He just had a good eye for a horse that had good conformation. Well, after the audit, we became good friends.”
The next step begins with Pevehouse wanting a halter horse. He said, “There was a medical doctor named Dr. Fred Watson out of Okmulgee, and he and his brother thought they would improve their ranching activities by adding Quarter Horses to the ranching operation. They raised registered Herefords. They bought a Quarter Horse stallion by the name of Bar Three by Three Bars.
“The Quarter Horses weren’t making as much money as cows were, so they decided to disperse them. The Quarter Horse manager, Buck Phillips, told me that the dispersal was going to be in November. So, I went out and looked at the horses. I had one little filly in mind. I asked him to price her. He said $2,500. I told him, ‘You are kind of out of my line.’”
Pevehouse then explained what happened at the sale. “I called Walter Spencer and I asked him what he was doing on Saturday. He said, ‘Nothing and what’s going on?’ I told
American Pharoah isn’t the only Triple Crown winner in 2015 as Painted Turnpike became the first winner of the Speedhorse Paint & Appaloosa Triple Crown series
Painted Turnpike drove to the wire to win the Speedhorse Graham Paint & Appaloosa Futurity-G1 at Remington Park on May 30.
Mrs. and Mr. Nolan Pevehouse, owners of Painted Turnpike
Painted Turnpike won the Speedhorse Paint & Appaloosa Futurity-G1 at Tulsa Fair Meadows handily by 1 1/4-lengths on July 25.
Painted Turnpike gave a powerful wire-to-wire performance winning the Speedhorse Lone Star Paint & Appaloosa Futurity-G1 by 1 1/2-lengths in the slop at Lone Star Park on Oct. 30.
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SPEEDLINES
Dustin Orona Photography Coady Photography Dustin Orona Photography