<p><strong>S</strong>ome investments pay off more than others. Few pay off as handsomely as the one Lance Finlinson made about six years ago.</p><p>Finlinson, who had been around quarter horse racing since he was a youngster in the Louisville area, decided to purchase a brood mare that had been bred by the late Carl Pevehouse, a legend in the world of quarter horses. He bought Jesses Candy in 2014, and the result has been a wildly successful run of racing at Indiana Grand Racing &amp; Casino in Shelbyville.</p><p>Jesses Candy has produced six foals for Finlinson and his wife, Tammy. The first, Rocky’s Candy Shop, enjoyed a dominating season on the track in 2018, earning Horse of the Year honors at Indiana Grand after winning five races. He continued to run well last year before dying at age 5 in June as the result of a training accident.</p>[sc:text-divider text-divider-title="Story continues below gallery" ]Click here to purchase photos from this gallery<p>“After Rocky won last year, his last race, I had a guy basically offer me a blank check for him,” Lance Finlinson said, “and I said … ‘There’s no amount of money I would take for him.’”</p><p>The Finlinsons are similarly attached to each of the other five horses that Jesses Candy has given them.</p><p>One mare, 4-year-old Rock Candy Dynasty, stays at the Finlinsons’ Greenwood stable alongside her mother; both are currently pregnant and due late next winter. They’re usually followed around the grounds by a donkey, Jack, who will serve as a “babysitter” once those newborns arrive.</p><p>The other four — 4-year-old Valiantine Candy Rocks, 3-year-old Rock Hard Candy and 2-year-old brothers Rock Candy Almighty and Rock the Candy Wagon — are racing at Indiana Grand this year, and they’re housed in Connersville with trainer Victor Olivo.</p><p>That the Finlinsons linked up with Olivo feels like a bit of kismet; much like Lance, Victor is a quarter horse lifer, having spent nearly all of his 41 years in the game.</p><p>“We were brought into this world without asking, I guess,” Olivo joked.</p><p>A decorated longtime jockey who has earned some big wins (including the $325,000 Oklahoma Futurity in 2013), Olivo got out of the saddle four and a half years ago to focus on training horses. In part because of a shortage of riders at Indiana Grand, however, he got back in the saddle this year.</p><p>Olivo says that pulling the rare trainer-jockey double has actually been beneficial. He had been growing frustrated with other riders’ unwillingness to listen to him about his horses’ tendencies.</p><p>“Since I knew the horse, I would tell them, ‘The horse is going to jump to the right or jump to the left; just be careful,’” Olivo explained, “and they’d be like, ‘What the hell? You don’t know what you’re talking about.’ And the horse did whatever I’d told them. … I’d lose a lot of races because of that, and I just got tired of it.</p><p>“Me and the horse connect, and then we can run better in the race.”</p><p>Rock Candy Almighty and Rock the Candy Wagon recently made a bit of Indiana racing history, becoming the first full brothers to line up against one another in a stakes race when they competed in the $138,400 Jaguar Rocket Futurity Final on July 20.</p><p>Though neither won that event, the Finlinsons point out that Jesses Candy’s offspring have yielded enough prize money to allow for substantial charitable donations. They’re not in it for the money; a large portion of their winnings have gone to Haven Sanctuary for Women, a Greenwood-based nonprofit.</p><p>Olivo would like to help keep that gravy train chugging along for as long as he can.</p><p>“I’m really glad that we found (each other),” he said, “because like I told Lance, I’ve trained horses but I’ve never trained horses this caliber, this kind of horse. … They’ve been very good to us, so hopefully we can win more races for them.”</p><p>For Lance Finlinson, though, the success that his stable has enjoyed on the track is just a side benefit. He’ll likely be happier this winter, when racing season is over and all of his horses are back in his stables, than he is watching them race.</p><p>“I love the part of taking care of the horses,” he said. “If I was being honest, I would probably tell you that racing is my least favorite part, partly because of my nerves.”</p><p>When the Finlinsons are out in their yard, watching mother and daughter frolic about, they’re completely at peace. Even if their horses don’t win another race, that investment in Jesses Candy will forever have been worth it.</p>
