Commands Attention

Known for his utter consistency at producing winners, Commands is never without a headline horse, and after the recent victory of Helmet’s three-quarter brother Epaulette in the G1 Golden Rose at Rosehill, Commands appears to have another extremely promising prospect on the cards.

With four sons of the immortal Danehill currently in the top five on the General Sires’ Table, the other being Lonhro, no stallion has sired more Australian Stakes winner than Commands so far this season, being represented by not only the G1 winner Epaulette, but by Skilled’s full-brother Ambidexter who won the G2 Sebring Sprint on September 15, three-year-old colt Jimando who took out the Listed Henry Buck Stakes over 1400m at Flemington on September 8, while Lamasery recorded his fourth career Stakes win on September 23, winning the G2 Hill Stakes.

Other recent Stakes performers include three-year-old gelding Proverb, who came within a whisker of upsetting stablemate Tatra in the Listed Ming Dynasty, while G1 performers Limes and Rain Affair line up in the coming week to add further Black type to their resumes.

Further highlighting Commands’ value for money, all other Danehill stallions in the top ten stand at a fee significantly higher than his, and in the age of the money savvy breeder, Commands presents outstanding opportunities to breeders looking to upgrade their mare, in fact 44 of Commands’ 48 Stakes winners are their dam’s best runner...now that’s sire power!

Set for a possible clash with Champion Two-year-old Lonhro colt Pierro in the G1 Caulfield Guineas in a month’s time, Epaulette has been a model of consistency throughout his short career, producing only one out of character run, when nothing when right for him in the G1 Golden Slipper of his year.

If successful in the G1 Caulfield Guineas, he will emulate his three-quarter brother Helmet who took out the race last year, when giving the Exceed And Excel colt his third victory at the elite level.

When you take a look at Epaulette’s pedigree, one could say he was destined for G1 glory. Out of the Singspiel mare Accessories, whose first foal is the CS Hayes Stakes-winning Elusive Quality colt Bullbars. Now standing his first season at stud in New Zealand, Bullbars was the first colt home in the G1 Australian Guineas of his year, finishing one-and-three-quarter lengths in second to the Danny O’Brien-trained filly Shamrocker.

Accessories second foal is Darley’s first-season sire Helmet, who is standing the current breeding season at Northwood Park where he has been rewarded with a top-class book of mares, while Epaulette is Accessories' third yearling.

One-and-three-quarter lengths, the margin that separates Accessories from having produced three individual G1 winners from her first three foals – quite an achievement for the blue-hen mare. Based on what she has done to date, Accessories’ current two-year-old, a Street Cry filly named Brilliance really has to live up to her name.

While the Golden Rose has only been a G1 event since 2009, the year that Lonhro’s son and Darley stallion Denman won the event in a fast time, the race in its current format has been around since 2005 and no stallion has provided more winners of the race than Commands, with Epaulette, Court Commands and Paratroopers.

Having 48 Stakes winners to his credit, seven of those; Paratroopers, Purple, Undue, Epaulette, Skilled, Russeting and Erewhon are G1 winners, with another 13 being performers at G1 level, including last season’s juvenile Limes as well as the outstanding sprinter Rain Affair who looks set to chase his maiden G1 victory this season in some of Melbourne’s feature sprints.

With consistency personified being a way to describe Commands, no sire has produced more winners in the past three complete seasons than Commands has, having sired both top-line fillies as well as colts, winners from 800m to 3200m, on all track surfaces, as well as producing numerous international winners in 13 different countries. With progeny earnings in excess of $61m, Commands offers breeders one of the best value sons of Danehill to stand anywhere in the world.

Commands is standing the current breeding season at Kelvinside at a fee of $55,000 (inc. GST), while his G1-winning son Skilled stands at Northwood Park in Victoria at a fee of $8,800 (inc. GST). Further updates on Commands, as well as any of the remainder of the Darley’s roster can be viewed by clicking here to access Darley’s 2012 Online Stallion brochure and by clicking here to download Darley’s new App for Iphone and Ipad users.

To contact any of the Darley Nominations Team please click here to obtain their details.