Darley stallion Commands, the sire of Sydney winter discovery Rain Affair, has set a national record for individual winners in a season.
On the verge of a defending of his title as Australia’s leading sire by individual winners, two Brisbane provincial victories last week helped Commands break the record.
Ipswich successes on Friday from Commanding Lass and Andthebandplayedon took Commands’s 2010-2011 total to 148 individual winners.
The tally passes the previous mark set in 2008-2009 by Encosta de Lago.
A Darley Australia announcement on the stallion’s record-breaking feat said: “Commands has achieved Group One winners in each of his last three seasons and is right up there with the best stallion-sons of the immortal Danehill to stand in Australia.”
Commands is the sire of 10 Australian stakes winners this season, highlighted by his son Erewhon winning the Group One Spring Champion Stakes.
Judging by the reaction to Rain Affair’s win at Warwick Farm on Saturday, it might not be long before another Group One winner is added to Commands’s honour roll.
Rain Affair produced a heavy track masterclass to make it six wins from seven starts.
Trainer Joe Pride will now give Rain Affair a new-season stakes test in either the Missile Stakes or Starlight Stakes.
“He’s got amazing speed and that’s where he puts them to the sword,” Pride said after Saturday’s five-length victory.
If Rain Affair is directed towards the Missile, he will be trying to emulate his sire in the weight-for-age sprint.
As a two-year-old, Commands was awarded the 1999 edition on protest when it was run on the final day of the Australian racing season.
A Group One victory proved elusive for Commands although he was placed in a Caulfield Guineas renewal from which the winner Redoute’s Choice and runner-up Testa Rossa also rose to fame as leading sires.
Commands was also beaten in a photo-finish to the Group One Galaxy when it was worth $1 million in 2000.
He was retired to Woodlands Stud the following spring.
AAP TURF
