Darley in Australia has regretfully announced that their star stallion
Commands sadly passed away in the early hours of Saturday morning.
A talented racehorse for the Ingham family,
Commands won the
Gr3 Missile Stakes and was placed in the
Gr1 Galaxy and Gr1 Caulfield Guineas.
COMMANDS winning the Missile Stakes Gr3
However it was as a sire that the son of
Danehill excelled.
Commands is one of only two (2) stallions in Australia to have sired 10 or more Stakes Winners in each of the past four racing seasons, the other being his Caulfield Guineas conqueror
Redoute’s Choice.
Renowned for his ability to produce tough, durable racehorses, he set an
Australian record of
155 individual winners in the 2010-11 racing season.
He held the title of
Leading Sire by Winners on 3 consecutive occasions.
The sire of nine Gr1 winners,
Commands finished third behind
Exceed And Excel and Fastnet Rock in the Sires’ Championship last season thanks in part to his brilliant daughter Appearance who became the first mare in history to claim the Gr1 treble of the Myer Classic, Queen of the Turf and Coolmore Classic in the one season.
Managing Director of Darley in Australia, Henry Plumptre said, “
Commands has had a profound influence on the success of our racing team since the Woodlands purchase in 2008. His consistency and ability to produce a Group 1 horse every year has underpinned the purchase and he will be sorely missed."
“Fortunately his legacy will live on through his progeny and we are lucky enough to have two of his Gr1-winning sons in Epaulette and Skilled standing on the Darley roster this year, while four-time Gr1 winner Appearance has joined another of his multiple Gr1-winning daughters in Purple entering the Darley broodmare band.”
Alastair Pulford, Darley’s Head of Sales in Australia said, “
Commands was a champion who will be sadly missed by not only Darley but his legion of loyal supporters. He is one of the rare stallions that made it the hard way, rapidly ascending from a service fee of just $10,000 in his first season at stud to become one of the country’s elite stallions.”
“Fittingly he looked to unearth another talented horse last week in Peter Moody’s debut winner Herstory.”
Commands shuttled to both
France and Japan throughout his career and is the sire of 1452 foals, with another 160 mares covered last season.
1025 of those foals have raced
717 of them winning races
63 of them being Stakes winners.
His progeny have amassed close to
$84 million in prizemoney to date.
Dynamic Syndications have been a fan of the
Commands progeny of which we have obtained racetrack success.
This year we purchased a colt by
Commands from the mare
Mezmar.
He is
a ¾ brother to Stakes Winners
DORF COMMAND.
Our colt will be offered for sale later this year.