Commissioner to WinStar Farm in 2016

Commissioner, a Grade 3 winner and narrow runner-up in the 2014 Belmont Stakes, will make his debut at stud in 2016 at WinStar Farm in Versailles, Ky., following a planned final start in the Grade 2 Hawthorne Gold Cup.

The 4-year-old son of A.P. Indy will stand for an advertised fee of $7,500, and will participate in WinStar’s “Dream Big” program, which offers breeders the opportunity to earn a lifetime breeding right after producing two live foals from his first books.

Commissioner, a Kentucky-bred WinStar Farm homebred, has won 4 of 14 starts for earnings of $812,237, highlighted by wins in the Grade 3 Pimlico Special and Skip Away stakes. He also finished second in the Belmont Stakes and was in the money in the Grade 2 Peter Pan Stakes and Grade 3 Sunland Derby. Todd Pletcher has trained the colt throughout his career.

“Commissioner has always been one of our favorites from the time he was born,” said Elliott Walden, WinStar president and 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,” Walden continued. “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.”

Commissioner is out of the Grade 3-placed stakes-winning Touch Gold mare Flaming Heart, whose four winners from five foals to race also includes Laugh Track, a Grade 3 winner and Breeders’ Cup Sprint runner-up.