Mating Recommendations
by Respected Pedigree Writer and Consultant Matt O’Neil
Master Command holds a pedigree free of Northern Dancer and Raise A Native/Mr. Prospector and should be a welcome addition to the stallion ranks for breeders in search of an outcross to those dominant influences.
The Fappiano branch of the Mr. Prospector line should go particularly well with this son of A.P. Indy. The A.P. Indy-Fappiano cross has produced at least nine Stakes winners, and incredibly, all nine are Graded winners. They include Preakness (G1) winner Bernardini and Grade 1 winner A P Adventure, by A.P. Indy himself, as well as the Grade 1 winners Great Hunter and Tapit by sons of A.P. Indy. Mares by the Fappiano sons Quiet American, Roy, Unbridled, and Rubiano have already produced Stakes winners by A.P. Indy and his sons. Mares by *Unbridled’s Song and his son Songandaprayer, as well as Cryptoclearance and his son Victory Gallop, should also go well with Master Command as should mares by Broken Vow (by Unbridled out of a Nijinsky II mare) and the other Unbridled sons Anees and Grindstone.
Mares from the Seeking the Gold branch of the Mr. Prospector line should also be strongly considered for Master Command. The A.P. Indy-Seeking the Gold cross has yielded at least eight Stakes winners, including 2007 Hopeful Stakes (G1) winner Majestic Warrior and Grade 3 winner Time to Get Even by an A.P. Indy son.
Seeking the Gold is out of a mare by Buckpasser, sire of A.P. Indy’s second dam. Reinforcing Buckpasser has worked well for A.P. Indy and is especially promising for Master Command, who traces back to Buckpasser’s third dam, the immortal La Troienne. Other prominent sources of Buckpasser include Woodman, Mining, and Miswaki who, like Seeking the Gold, are bred on the Mr. Prospector/Buckpasser corss, Not For Love (by Mr. Prospector, second dam by Buckpasser), Montbrook, Silver Charm, Lite the Fuse, With Approval, Polish Numbers and Exchange Rate(who is out of a mare by Seeking the Gold).
A.P. Indy has clicked with nearly all the major Northern Dancer broodmare lines but especially so with the Danzig and Deputy Minister branches.
A.P. Indy over Danzig has produced at least eight Stakes winners, all but one a Group/Graded winner. Prominent North American sources of Danzig include Belong to Me, Langfuhr, Ascot Knight, Boundary, Brahms, Concerto, Pine Bluff, War Chant and the aforementioned Exchange Rate and Polish Numbers.
A.P. Indy and at least three of his sons have sired Stakes winners out of Deputy Minister-line mares. The group includes the super-filly Rags to Riches, Grade 1 winner Sinister Minister and the Graded winners Minister Eric and Oratory. The latter is out of a mare by the Deputy Minister stallion Dehere. Mares by other Deputy Minister sons like Silver Deputy (damsire of a Stakes winner by the A.P. Indy son Old Trieste), Awesome Again, Deputy Commander, Forest Camp, French Deputy, Salt Lake and Touch Gold(out of a Buckpasser mare) should also be considered for Master Command.
A.P. Indy and his sons are working well with the In Reality broodmare line, particularly through Relauch. There are at least six Stakes winners bred on the A.P. Indy-In Reality cross and at least four of those, including Grade 1 winner Passing Shot, are out of Relaunch-line dams. In fact, in 2007 alone, the A.P. Indy sons Jump Start and Malibu Moon both sired Stakes winners out of Relaunch granddaughters. It’s worth noting that Jump Start, like Master Command, carries a double of Secretariat in his pedigree.
Master Command is a direct descendant of La Troienne.