Nunn Pays it Back with 'Pleasure'

David Nunn's biggest success as a trainer came when Withgreatpleasure (Hold That Tiger) came home first in the 2013 GII Ruffian H., but that was just one memorable moment in his long association with the filly's family. Withgreatpleasure is out of a half-sister to a hard-knocking horse named Go Chandler (Its Acedemic), who gave Nunn his first-ever win as a trainer before going on to a successful dressage career. Now 25, the gelding has a permanent home at Nunn's New Jersey farm.
“I was an assistant trainer for Valerie Blethen and they actually bred him,” Nunn recalled of his first meeting with Go Chandler. “He came to the track back in the Garden State Park days, late in his 2-year-old season. I remember getting him ready for his first race in New York. Doug Thomas rode him. That was in April and he won the first race of his life as a 3-year-old at Aqueduct in 1996. That summer we went to Saratoga with him and he won an allowance race.”
Go Chandler was third for Blethen in that year's Bergen County S. at the Meadowlands and, although he was sold privately the following season, Nunn continued to keep tabs on the chestnut.
“I was watching him and he came down the ladder,” Nunn said. “When he finally hit the bottom for $5,000, I bought him. I was training on my own by then and he was running that bad, I thought I could buy him privately. And I did.”
In all, Nunn and his brother and fellow trainer Doug Nunn, lost Go Chandler seven times through the claim box, but they always got the gelding back.
“There was no way I was ever going to let him go,” Nunn said. “We always had a connection. We used to call him 'Booger' because he was just a little booger in your back pocket–always playing with you, always wanting attention. He always had to be the horse in the barn. Since I was just starting out, he was my only horse for many years. I only had him and maybe one other horse. And when somebody claimed him, they always knew I was going to come get him back. There was never a question he was mine.”
Ultimately, the gelding made 105 starts, hitting the board 55 times and earning $278,813. He made his final start at Monmouth Park in August of 2003.
“When he got up there in age, I finally claimed him back for the last time,” Nunn said. “I went all the way up to Finger Lakes and claimed him back and brought him back home. I ran him one more time to get some professional pictures done. And then I retired him.”
Go Chandler was 10 when he retired from racing, but his competitive career wasn't quite finished. After taking a year off, Go Chandler started his second career.
“My wife at the time, Dina Donahue, decided we were going to make him into a dressage horse,” Nunn said. “He ended up winning the championship in the training level at the Horse Park of New Jersey. It didn't matter what he did-he had to be the best at whatever he did. He was just that kind of horse. There was never second best. He had to be number one at whatever he did and he was just beautiful.”
Go Chandler, who celebrated his 25th birthday in April, continues to enjoy his retirement.
“He's still my pet,” Nunn said. “I still jump up on him bareback, with no halter or bridle, and I ride him around. He still loves the attention and he loves the peppermints. If you put a saddle on him, it's game time, but if you ride him bareback, you can lope around the field just holding on to his mane. He'll play around and take you around the field. But don't put a saddle on him. He knows the difference.”
Nunn also keeps tabs on other members of the family.
“Go Chandler started it all and the whole family just always took care of me,” he said. “I had the brother also, a horse called Heat (De Niro). He might have been the slowest one of the bunch, but I kept in touch with him. I found him a home and he was a lesson horse for handicapped children. He actually just passed away. And there was also another one called Go Mercedes (Gold Fever). I had her and she couldn't run very fast either, but she had heart. We gave her away to a little girl who still has her.”
And now there is another generation to watch over. Withgreatpleasure, who Nunn saddled to win the Ruffian for Valerie and David Blethen, sold for $290,000 at that year's Keeneland November sale. She was purchased by Spendthrift Farm for $485,000 while in foal to Tiznow at that sale in 2014 and recently had her first starter when Princess Becky (Itsmyluckyday) finished fourth on debut at Los Alamitos July 6. The mare also has an unraced 3-year-old named Tizger (Tiznow).
“I'm still trying to get more,” Nunn said with a laugh. “Withgreatpleasure has a 2-year-old who just ran out in California and she has a 3-year-old in Ocala. Believe me I will have another one.”
As he watches over Go Chandler's retirement, Nunn acknowledged he was just fulfilling his obligation to the family.
“These horses give us everything they have,” he said. “We owe it to them to give back. If you bring these horses into this world, then you owe it to them to do right by them until they leave this world. That's the way it is. That's the way it should be.”