Page 25 - 11 May 2012

“I went out there to watch him run a maiden race,” said Pevehouse, admitting that he took a lot of good-natured ribbing from the California horsemen for bringing his “Okie horse” to Los Alamitos. “I stepped up to the window and I bet about $1,400 on that race.
I cashed out about $14,000. He went off at big odds.
“We got him in a stakes race out there, and as I started back home, I was overloaded and burned the motor out of my truck. I couldn’t get a motor back in my truck that quickly so we stayed over for the stakes race. When the race was over, I had bet about $1,200–1,300 and I cashed out around $15,000, which was enough to pay for a motor and have money left. And, in that particular race, we set a 2-year-old track record at Los Alamitos.”
Send The Gals Candy went on to finish third in the All American Futurity-G1, taking Pevehouse to the pinnacle of the sport in only his second attempt as a breeder. The next year, the horse set a 350-yard track record of :17.290 at Los Alamitos.
“Every colt out of that old mare run,” Pevehouse said of Send Me Candy. “Then I started getting into the racehorse business a little stouter. I already knew the bloodlines, but I just more or less hung with that one particu- lar mare. I didn’t go off and try to buy any more mares.
“We went on from there and I kept raising some racehorses out of Send Me Candy. And her daughter, Send Me The Candy, is produc- ing some real racehorses, and her daughters are producing racehorses, so that’s the reason why the name Candy has gotten to be a legend,” Pevehouse said.
CANDY AND FAITH
Send Me The Candy is not only one of Send Me Candy’s best producing daughters, she is also one of the mare’s richest runners, with a bankroll of $135,976 mostly earned from a victory in the 1996 Remington Park Futurity-G1. That one race, and the money it represented, was a glowing testament to the faith Pevehouse has placed in God his entire life.
“The Good Lord has been good to me, I promise you. After I had my heart transplant, I was sure needing money. And I’ll be honest with you I did a lot of praying about it,” said Pevehouse. “In 1996, when I was going to have to have a transplant, the whole time I was in the hospital expenses were piling up and the company wasn’t making much money.”
Back in 1979, Pevehouse had started PV Valve, a company that specializes in new, rebuilt and used production and plant valves and wellhead equipment. While Pevehouse
admits there are years the company has paid for his horse hobby, he also knows there are years the horses have supported the company. Recently, a couple of well-timed stakes wins have helped Pevehouse’s business rebound after being partially destroyed by wildfires. 1996 was also one of those years.
“I was needing money pretty bad. It took
a lot of praying. We set the fastest qualifying time, and when we come back, we win the Remington Park Futurity. So that got me out of debt. God was good to me,” Pevehouse said through tears of gratefulness. “God has smiled on me. I always like to say that, because God has been good to me and to my horses. That’s what I believe.”
Pevehouse also believes his faith has kept him going years past the initial prognosis given by his doctors.
“They have meetings for transplant patients. I miss some of the meetings, because I get busy, but I need to go up there and tell them what the Lord did for me,” Pevehouse said. “I wouldn’t be here if it hadn’t been for God. That’s just the way it is.
“I was the first person out of 124 heart transplant patients to come out of there with- out a respirator, and I got to go home in five days,” Pevehouse added of his heart transplant surgery. “I started back to work in the office, more or less. But on the eighth day, I took equipment and parts and shipped them— which they had to unload for me because I couldn’t—and I went down to eat a steak and to the grocery store to get some fresh fruit. I haven’t shut down since.”
And neither have Pevehouse’s horses. In 2011, horses he bred earned just shy of $1 million, topped by the Grade 1 winning Send Me A Candy Tree. Candy Cartel and Found
A Candy Tree also won stakes in 2011, with Candy Cartel returning for another stakes win already in 2012. Just a few months into the 2012 season, Candy Cartel was joined by Paint A Famous Candy and Paint The Candy Lane as stakes winners at Remington Park.
“Right now, I have the best group of 3-year- olds and older horses I’ve ever had, and I’ve got a great group of 2-year-olds, too,” Pevehouse commented. “I’m down to the fourth and fifth generations this year. A lot of times you get down to the third or fourth generation and people misbreed or mishandle the bloodlines. But mine are still running, and that’s the reason I thank God. God has been good to me, and I’m not ashamed to say it. And I try to say it to everybody, and I don’t stutter about it. It’s just what I believe.”
That unshakable faith has resulted in a life Pevehouse cherishes each day, thanks to a new heart and a little bit of candy.
Send Me The Candy in early spring, 2012.
Send Me The Candy winning the Remington Park Futurity in 1996.
Carl and Rozella Pevehouse and their daughter, Cheryl McDonah (left).
Carl in his warehouse at PV Valve.
SPEEDHORSE, May 11, 2012 23
Stacy Pigott/Speedhorse Andy Golden/Speedhorse Remington Park Amanda Glidden/Speedhorse