The outcome of the Jan. 3 Mucho Macho Man Stakes at Gulfstream Park suggests the following: Thou shall not underestimate Commandment on the Kentucky Derby (G1) trail.
Splitting rivals at the head of the lane after stalking the pace for much of the 1-mile, $157,500 stakes race for 3-year-olds, the talented colt burst past those rivals to register a widening 6 3/4-length triumph. The margin of victory matched the stakes record set by Itsmyluckyday in 2013 when the race was contested as the Gulfstream Park Derby.
Roger That Dana rallied for second, 1 3/4 lengths ahead of Thunder Chuck in third.
But the Mucho Macho Man might as well have been a one-horse race late. The only thing Commandment did not do was run fast. His final time of 1:38.23 was the second-slowest running of the Mucho Macho Man at the mile distance.
Splits in the race were :24.09, :47.38, and 1:12.45, set first by Cabourg and later by Epic Summer. Both weakened late to finish in the back of the pack.
Coming off a blowout maiden win at Churchill Downs in his second career start Nov. 1, Commandment paid $3 to win.
Trainer Brad Cox and jockey Irad Ortiz Jr.—who each topped the 2025 North American earnings leaderboard in their respective professions—teamed up Saturday with Commandment, who races for the Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani-headed Wathnan Racing.
"He's lightly raced, only three starts, obviously, but he's a brave horse, and he likes being a racehorse," Cox said during an in-house television interview.
The trainer also won Saturday's Jerome Stakes with My World.
Ortiz was encouraged by how Commandment performed and how he galloped out after the race.
"He has a great mind, so let him be him and when it was time to roll, find some room and let him do the rest," Ortiz said. "He looked really, really good after the race, too.
"I liked the horse since day one when I rode him going short at Keeneland (when Commandment was fourth). I thought he could go longer. After that, he won and today again, so everything is going the right way. I think he's a cool horse."
The Mucho Macho Man Stakes did not offer any qualifying points on the Road to the Kentucky Derby, in contrast to the Jerome Stakes at Aqueduct Racetrack and Smarty Jones Stakes at Oaklawn Park.
Five horses have exited the Mucho Macho Man and gone on to participate in the Derby, though none have been victorious. The best finishes came from the 2022 winner, Simplification , who ran fourth in that spring's Derby, and the fourth-place finisher from the 2019 Mucho Macho Man, Code of Honor, who finished second in that year's Derby.
Commandment is a son of seven-time leading sire Into Mischief , whose top performer in 2025 was Kentucky Derby winner Sovereignty. Into Mischief stands this year for $250,000 at Spendthrift Farm in Kentucky.
Commandment's dam, the Orb mare Sippican Harbor, won the 7-furlong Spinaway Stakes (G1) during a four-race campaign as a 2-year-old in 2018. Her final career start was a sixth-place finish in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies (G1) in her only route at 1 1/16 miles. Commandment is her first winner and second starter.
Case Clay Thoroughbred Management bought Commandment for $500,000 from the Taylor Made Sales Agency consignment at the 2024 Keeneland September Yearling Sale. He was bred in Kentucky by Lee Pokoik.
"Obviously, we brought him along step by step, and he's responded to each and every race," Cox said. "Two turns next time out, not sure where, but excited about what he was able to accomplish today."
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Four in a Row for Sister Troienne
In the kickoff of Saturday's stakes action at Gulfstream, Sister Troienne easily dispatched five other 3-year-old fillies to post a comfortable victory in the $157,500 Ginger Brew Stakes.
Confidently handled by Mario Gutierrez, Sister Troienne chased front-running Laigina through splits of :24 and :47.87 in the mile turf race before dialing up the pressure on the leader late on the backstretch and into the second turn. The winner took over with 6 furlongs in 1:10.16 before opening up in midstretch and maintaining a 1 3/4-length advantage at the finish. She was clocked in 1:33.42 over a firm course.
Laigina held second ahead of a belated show rally from Storm's Wake.
Backed to odds-on favoritism following the key scratch of Spirit Doll, Sister Troienne returned $2.60 for a $2 win wager. The Ginger Brew marked her fourth straight victory and second at the stakes level. Those victories followed a third-place finish in her debut on dirt at Ellis Park over the summer.
The 3-year-old homebred daughter of Munnings out of the stakes-placed Lemon Drop Kid mare Dyna Passer races for Rene Woolcott's Woodslane Racing and is trained by Brian Lynch. Woodslane Racing campaigned her after she fell short of reaching her reserve when bidding stalled at $190,000 during the 2024 Keeneland September Yearling Sale.
Munnings, the 12th-leading sire in North America by progeny earnings in 2025, will stand this upcoming breeding season for $45,000 at Ashford Stud in Kentucky.
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