SHE was once the unwanted horse nicknamed the 'keg on legs', but now Worldly Pleasure has delivered Bathurst trainer Dean Mirfin a career first.
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The five-year-old mare has been named the Central Districts Racing Association's horse of the year for season 2018-19.
"It kind of came out of the blue, I thought she's done a good job, but yeah, I'm very pleased with that," Mirfin said.
"They are hard to win, it comes down to a vote and there are lot of people with good horses, so it's good to win it."
From the 12 starts she had during the season, Worldly Pleasure notched up six wins, a second and a third and earned over $100,000 in prize money.
She went from winning her maiden race at Orange on November 9, 2018 in what was her fourth career start, to success at metropolitan level.
That win came when Worldly Pleasure saluted as a $7 chance at Canterbury in the Australian Turf Club Handicap (1,100 metres) on July 3, 2019. It was a race which also marked jockey Eleanor Webster-Hawes' first metro winning ride.
Given the Commands x Smoothie mare arrived at Mirfin's stables with no great expectations, it was a season which certainly surprised.
"It was incredible because she came to the stables as a cast off from some bigger stables, James Cummings had her, Mark Newnham. They said she was no good and she was put through a sale and bought very cheaply," Mirfin said.
"She was just a little fat thing, but the progression she made was incredible, no-one expected it.
"When she first came home I thought she was a tidy little thing and might be able to win a race, but she continued to develop. She's in work now and she looks a beautiful mare these days.
"I think they all pulled the pin on her a bit early and didn't give her the chance to mature. They'd sacked her before she even race.
"Someone told me that he worked at Mark Newnham's when they had her there and her stable name there was keg on legs.
She's the little, fat girl who grew into a super woman I suppose, she's a beauty.
- Dean Mirfin
"She's not a keg on legs anymore, she's a finely-tuned athlete these days. She's the little, fat girl who grew into a super woman I suppose, she's a beauty."
Worldly Pleasure has since gone on to notch up another metropolitan win, producing an upset at Kensington in December when saluting as an $18 chance.
Mirfin says "she's not finished with yet" either in terms of her racing career and the plans are to give her more starts this season.
However, he said her owners will soon have a decision to make whether to retire her to stud or race on for another year.
"She's owned by some nice people who have been loyal to the stable," Mirfin said.
"I think all the owners are related, it's a family horse. Steve and Karen [Deal] bought her and the rest of the family are in the horse with them.
"She walked into the stable as a cheap buy, but now she's quite a valuable broodmare, so that's very satisfying to see that. At the end of her racing career she's worth a lot of money as a stud mare, the Command mares are highly sought after and she's a dual metropolitan winner now.
"They can have a long career at stud and their racing career can be relatively short, so that's a decision they'll have to make, it will based on what's the best thing for her too."
