What a Pleasure (1965-1983) was a

Thoroughbred The Thoroughbred is a horse breed best known for its use in horse racing. Although the word ''thoroughbred'' is sometimes used to refer to any breed of purebred horse, it technically refers only to the Thoroughbred breed. Thoroughbreds are c ...

stallion bred at

Claiborne Farm Claiborne Farm is a thoroughbred horse breeding operation near Paris, Kentucky. It was established in 1910 by Arthur B. Hancock, owner of Ellerslie Stud in Albemarle County, Virginia, and has been operated by members of his family ever since. ...

in Kentucky for the Wheatley Stables of Glady Phipps. Sired by the leading stallion

Bold Ruler Bold Ruler (April 6, 1954 – July 11, 1971) was an American Thoroughbred National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame, Hall of Fame racehorse who was the 1957 American Horse of the Year, Horse of the Year. This following a three-year-old campaign t ...

, and out of a Mahmoud mare Grey Flight, he excelled on the track and in his stud career. Like his sire, he would go on to become a leading North American stallion; producing Eclipse Award winners and

Kentucky Derby The Kentucky Derby is a horse race held annually in Louisville, Kentucky, United States, almost always on the first Saturday in May, capping the two-week-long Kentucky Derby Festival. The competition is a Grade I stakes race for three-year ...

winners.

Race career

What A Pleasure, trained by Edward Neloy, would peak as a juvenile winning the

National Stallion Stakes The National Stallion Stakes was an American Thoroughbred horse race held sixty-two times between 1898 and 1971. Inaugurated as the National Stallion Race at Morris Park Racecourse in The Bronx, the event was open to horses of either sex until 194 ...

in the summer of his two-year-old season. In August of that same year he would run second in the Monmouth Park Sapling Stakes in preparation for the Hopeful Stakes later in that same month. He would win this showing and it is considered his best performance. What A Pleasure would go on to race as a three-year-old and ran a decent third in the

Gotham Stakes The Gotham Stakes is an American Thoroughbred horse race for three-year-old horses run in early March at Aqueduct Racetrack in Queens, New York. A Grade III event with a current purse of US$300,000, it is set at a distance of 1 mile on the dirt ...

, but he never regained his two-year-old form. Richard Ulbrich of 'Peerage of Racehorses' claims the colt had wrenched his hip after his victory in the Hopeful and this may have dampened his form as a three-year-old. He was retired to stud in 1969 at Florida's Waldemar Farms.

Stud career

As a sire, What A Pleasure would be the leading sire consecutively in 1975 and 1976 by producing horses like Derby winner Foolish Pleasure, Eclipse Two-Year-Old Colt

Honest Pleasure {{Infobox racehorse , horsename = Honest Pleasure , image = , caption = , sire = What a Pleasure , grandsire = Bold Ruler , dam = Tularia , damsire = Tulyar , sex = Stallion , foaled = 1973 , country = United States , colour = D ...

, Gr.1 winner For the Moment, Gr.1 winner Fairway Phantom, and the extensive stakes winner Gene's Lady. Out of four hundred and ninety-eight foals over ten percent were stakes winners. What A Pleasure stood in Florida until his death in March 1983 from a heart attack.

Pedigree

§ What a Pleasure Native Dancer is shown as descending from (

family Family (from la, familia) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its ...

5-f), which traces back to the Bazajet Mare. However, the female descendants of his third-dam La Chica have a type of

mitochondrial DNA Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA or mDNA) is the DNA located in mitochondria, cellular organelles within eukaryotic cells that convert chemical energy from food into a form that cells can use, such as adenosine triphosphate (ATP). Mitochondrial D ...

that is inconsistent with other descendants of this family. As mitochondrial DNA is passed exclusively in the female line, this indicates a pedigree error occurred at some point between the Bazajet Mare's foaling in 1754 and La Chica's in 1930. What a Pleasure was inbred 4S x 3D to Blenheim, meaning this stallion appears in the fourth generation of the sire's side of his pedigree and in the third generation of the dam's side. What a Pleasure is also inbred 4S x 4D to Mumtaz Mahal.

References

{{Reflist 1965 racehorse births 1983 racehorse deaths Thoroughbred family 5-f Racehorses bred in Kentucky Racehorses trained in the United States Phipps family United States Champion Thoroughbred Sires