Yesterday, Top Commander, the half brother to my stallion Louis Arthur (by
Relaunch), earned the first black-type for their dam when he won the Grade 3
Count Fleet Sprint Handicap at Oaklawn. Top Commander (by Kingmambo) has now won
6 of 14 starts with earnings in excess of $172K.

Top Commander led from start to finish, zipping the 6 furlongs in 1:08.74, and
last month he posted a 110 Beyer when he won a 6f allowance race at Oaklawn. Not
bad for a horse that once raced in a maiden claimer for a $16K tag.

Story below from the TTimes below

Still on a high (even by association)....
Vikki

Top Commander takes Count Fleet for first stakes win
Top Commander set blistering early fractions in the $150,000 Count Fleet
Sprint Handicap (G3) but had plenty left in reserve to hold on for the first
stakes win of his career on Thursday at Oaklawn Park.
The five-year-old gelding surged out of the gate under jockey Carlos
Gonzalez and stormed to the front, setting fractions of :21.96 for the
quarter-mile and :44.57 for the half-mile.

That Tat and multiple stakes winner Forest Grove both rated within
striking distance of Top Commander entering the stretch, but the bay son of
Kingmambo refused to relent and remained well clear through the wire for a 1
1/2-length victory in 1:08.74 for six furlongs.

Forest Grove, who is a half brother to dual Grade 1 winner Tout Charmant,
got up for second, while six-time stakes winner That Tat held off late-closing
Two Down Automatic and 5-to-2 favorite Ole Rebel for third.

Top Commander, trained by Cole Norman, has won six of 14 lifetime starts
with two second-place finishes and earnings of $172,560. The Count Fleet was
just his third start in stakes company, following off-the-board finishes in last
year's Kentucky Cup Turf Dash Stakes and Total Rewards Stakes.

Owned by Courtlandt Farms, Top Commander is one of three winners for the
Grade 2-placed Seattle Slew mare Mackenzie Slew. Top Commander, who entered the
Count Fleet off a 7 3/4-length triumph in a six-furlong allowance race on March
11 at Oaklawn, established a course record of :54.96 for an about five-furlong
claiming race on July 22 at Louisiana Downs.

Please see chart courtesy of Equibase at http://www.equibase.com



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