Joyful Hope was bred by Dixiana Farms of Kentucky and campaigned at many of the major tracks on the east coast. He
exhibited great sprinting speed and class with fractions of 21.3, 44.3, 1:09 and was still able to carry out 1:36 to the mile with a 96 speed rating. He outran outstanding stakes horses such as Prince Thou Art $167,902, Improvisor $383,449, Provante $100,391, etc.

From his first 10 crops of quarter horse foals to race, 49% of starters were winners, 51% earned ROM, 20% ran speed indexes between 90 and 108. Three out of every four starters were money earners, showing the consistency in his siring ability. Even more impressive, however, was his ability to pass on earned ROM, 28% ran speed index of 90 to 109 (ranking among the best of all sires). He is also the maternal grand sire of several performance and halter point earners including an Open Reserve World Champion and an Amateur Reserve World Champion.

His sire, Olden Times (by Relic) was a multiple stakes winner of $603,831 and was The Leading Sire in North America for Number of Races Won and The Leading Sire in Number of Wins twice. He is the sire of 60 stakes winners including Ancient Regime Champion 2 Year Old Filly in France, Cricket Ball Champion Sprinter in Italy, Roving Boy Champion 2 Year Old Colt in US, Full Pocket G1 SW, Dainty Dotsie 1978 Sprinting Sensation, Blue Times, etc. After setting a new track record at Churchill Downs for 7 furlongs, Willie Shoemaker proclaimed Olden Times to be "the best gate horse I ever rode".

His dam, Green Trunk (by Spy Song) is the winning producer of foals with earning of almost $500,000 including Traffic Mark $187,738 (who was the sire of Honey Mark $408,093). Spy Song has made a deep impression on the quarter horse breed with his sprinting abilities, as well as some of today's great sprinting thoroughbred stallions.

Joyful Hope brought refinement and conformation to his offspring along with good minds that could handle pressure.