There is one sire that has flown the gates at the start of the new season racking up eight winners in the last seven days and 11 since August 1.

Darley based Commands was the leading sire of individual winners for 2009/2010 with 143 to his credit and it would be a brave punter betting against him doing it all over again judging by recent results.



A well bred son of Danehill and a full brother to multiple Group One winner and successful sire Danewin, Commands has had to make his own way after failing to snare that all important Group One win on the racetrack.

On the whole he was a fairly disappointing racehorse in comparison to Danewin (13 wins inc. 5 Group One and $2million in prizemoney), winning just four of 15 starts with his best win as a spring three year-old in the Group Three STC Missile Stakes, a performance that was followed later in the season by Group One placings in the Caulfield Guineas behind Redoute’s Choice and Testa Rossa and an unlucky half head defeat by Black Bean in the AJC The Galaxy.

His efforts were enough to earn him a slot on the Woodlands roster, but at a fee of $10,000, he certainly wasn’t covering the cream of the crop.

2004 was the turning point for Commands and the first year he stood at a decent fee, attracting 145 mares at a fee of $30,000 - up to that point he had received good numbers but not quality.

From that 2005 crop conceived off the bigger fee came dual Group One winner Purple, Group Two winner First Commands and stakes-winner Dorf Command, these horses now five years of age.

Following them are two bumper crops of 142 four year-olds and a whopping 160 three year-olds, all coming off the $30,000 fee.

These are the horses that have driven the overwhelming success of Commands during the past 12 months and will make him a force to be reckoned with this season.

His new season two year-olds, some 117 of them, come off a $66,000 fee, so whether Commands can do  better again remains to be seen.