Commanding lead

Commands heads the general sires’ table by number of winners with Street Cry out in front on prize-money

As we head into 2010, Commands has an impressive lead in the race for the number of individual winners in Australia with his tally of 72 having been boosted by a trio of victors at Canterbury’s meeting on Wednesday.

The success in Sydney of He’s In Demand and the three-year-olds Demeanour and Commandare, who scored in his second consecutive race from just three starts, has helped to raise their sire to four individual winners clear of his nearest rival. The three-parts sister to Commandare (lot 98, ex Bounds) is one of 20 yearlings by Commands to be offered for auction at the forthcoming Magic Millions Yearling Sale at the Gold Coast, which starts on Wednesday, 6 January.

Among Commands’ black type winners for the season are Matriarch Stakes heroine Purple, Group Two-winning sprinter First Command and the Group Three winners Rarefied and Friday Creek, whose close relative also features in next week's yearling sale (lot 282, ex Holly). These big-race winners have ensured the son of Danehill's top ten berth in the table by prize-money earned but atop this particular division, however, is his fellow Darley sire Street Cry, whose progeny have amassed over $1,400,000 more than those of the second-placed Encosta De Lago.

Street Cry is, of course, responsible for the sensational Melbourne Cup winner Shocking, along with Whobegotyou, a son of the Japanese-bred Carnegie mare Temple Of Peace, and Predatory Pricer.