Commissioner, multiple GSW of $812,237 by A.P. Indy, to WinStar in 2016

Commissioner, the Classic-placed, multiple graded stakes winner of $812,237, looks to become the last top son of A.P. Indy to stud when he retires to WinStar Farm in Versailles, KY at the end of 2015.

Commissioner is being pointed to this Saturday’s $250,000 Hawthorne Gold Cup (G2), prior to retiring for the upcoming 2016 breeding season. His stud fee has been set at $7,500 S&N, and Commissioner will participate in WinStar’s “Dream Big” program which offers breeders the opportunity to earn a lifetime breeding right in the son of A.P. Indy after producing just two live foals from his first books.

“Commissioner has always been one of our favorites from the time he was born,” said Elliott Walden, WinStar President & CEO. “We bred him to win a Classic, and he nearly pulled it off when Tonalist nailed him at the wire in the Belmont. Commissioner is such an exceptional-looking individual and full of the class that his genetics suggest. He has a similar race profile to A.P. Indy stallions Flatter and Congrats. We believe he’s a great opportunity through our ‘Dream Big’ program, and, really, the last chance to participate in an A.P. Indy.”

Trained by Todd Pletcher, Commissioner became A.P. Indy’s last Classic-placed 3-year-old when he set the pace and led until the final yards of the last jewel of the 2014 Triple Crown – the $1,500,000 Belmont S. (G1). The WinStar homebred finished as the runner-up by a head to multiple Grade 1 winner Tonalist, and defeated Grade 1 winners California Chrome and Wicked Strong.

This year as a 4-year-old, Commissioner won the $150,000 Skip Away S. (G3) at Gulfstream, earning a 109 Beyer and 2 3/4 Ragozin. In his next start, he captured the historic $300,000 Pimlico Special S. (G3) in 1:56.09, faster than American Pharoah’s Preakness S. at the 1 3/16-mile distance the next day.

Commissioner has finished in the money in six Graded stakes races at five different racetracks to date. His earnings of $812,237 are higher than such successful A.P. Indy sires as Pulpit, Malibu Moon, Flatter, and Girolamo. He is out of the multiple Graded-stakes producer and multiple stakes-winning race mare, Flaming Heart, by Touch Gold. Flaming Heart is also the dam of 2013 Breeders’ Cup Sprint (G1) runner-up Laugh Track.

For more information about Commissioner, or WinStar’s “Dream Big” program, please contact Kyle Wilson, Sean Tugel, or Caroline Walsh at 859-873-1717, or visit WinStarFarm.com.