Dust Commander (USA)
February 8, 1967 – October 7, 1991
Bold Commander (USA) x Dust Storm (USA), by Windy City II (GB)
Family 3-j
February 8, 1967 – October 7, 1991
Bold Commander (USA) x Dust Storm (USA), by Windy City II (GB)
Family 3-j
A small colt whose staying ability was considered suspect because of his bloodlines, Dust Commander was largely overlooked in the lead-up to the Kentucky Derby until he won the Blue Grass Stakes. Even then, he got little respect and went off at 15-1 in the big race before springing a five-length upset. Supplemented to the Preakness Stakes, he ran ninth and ended up winning only one of his remaining 18 starts, perhaps due to a soft tissue injury he sustained during his Derby win and aggravated during the Preakness. He was a fairly useful sire of hard-knocking bread-and-butter horses but got at least one horse with ability equal to or greater than his own in the 1975 Preakness Stakes (USA-G1) winner, Master Derby.
Race record
42 starts, 8 wins, 5 seconds, 4 thirds, US$215,012
1969:
1970:
Assessments
Rated at 125 pounds on the Daily Racing Form's Free Handicap for American 3-year-old males of 1970, 3 pounds below champion Personality.
As an individual
Dust Commander was a small, smoothly-made, short-coupled chestnut horse said to have weighed about 900 pounds when he won the Kentucky Derby; trainer Don Combs estimated his height at that time at about 15.1 hands. He had a strong, straight hind leg and well let down knees and hocks. He had a light, easy action while racing and was particularly effective over wet or drying-out tracks. In temperament, he was a tough customer, particularly in and around his stall.
As a stallion
According to records kept by The Jockey Club, Dust Commander sired 294 winners (54.4%) and 17 stakes winners (3.1%) from 540 named foals. Statistics for his progeny sired in Japan may be incomplete.
Notable progeny
Master Derby (USA), Run Dusty Run (USA)
Connections
Dust Commander was bred in Illinois by the Pullen Brothers. He was purchased by Robert Lehmann for US$6,500 from the 1968 Keeneland Fall Yearling Sale and was trained by Don Combs. Shortly after the Kentucky Derby, Combs and Lehmann parted ways and Dust Commander was afterward trained by I. K. Mourar. Dust Commander initially stood at Lehmann's Golden Chance Farm in 1971-1973 but was exported to Japan in 1974 due to lack of interest in his services from Kentucky breeders. After being repatriated to Kentucky in 1979, he stood at Gainesway Farm in 1980-1985. He moved to Springland Farm near Paris, Kentucky, in 1986 and died there in 1991. He was buried in an unmarked location on land that was later resold and divided. After his remains were found in a grave on Woodline Farm on July 5, 2013, they were relocated to the gardens of the Kentucky Derby Museum in Louisville, Kentucky, on July 8, 2013.
Pedigree notes
Sired by Bold Commander (a stakes-winning son of Bold Ruler out of High Voltage), Dust Commander is inbred 5x4 to 1930 Derby Stakes winner Blenheim II, the American champion sire of 1941. He was produced from Dust Storm, whose sire Windy City II was the English and Irish champion 2-year-old male of 1951.
A winner on the track, Dust Storm is a half sister to juvenile stakes winner Sal's Beau (by Bolero) and to Bolure (by Bolero), dam of multiple juvenile stakes winner Be Somebody (by Barbizon) and third dam of Grade 3 winner Amy Be Good. She and her siblings are out of the winning Challedon mare Challure, whose dam Captivation (by Stimulus) is a half sister to Alpoise (by Equipoise). While of no significance as a race mare, Alpoise is the dam of 1948 Cowdin Stakes winner Algasir (by Sir Gallahad III) and of 1953 Kentucky Broodmare of the Year Gaga (by Bull Dog), dam of 1953 American Horse of the Year Tom Fool (by Menow) and 1950 American champion 2-year-old filly Aunt Jinny (by Heliopolis). Alpoise also produced Bull Poise (by Bull Lea), dam of 1961 Jersey Derby winner Ambiopoise (by Ambiorix) and second dam of 1982 Canadian champion 3-year-old filly and sprinter Avowal.
Returning to Captivation, she is by Stimulus out of 1931 Selima Stakes winner Laughing Queen (by Sun Briar), a full sister to 1925 American champion 2-year-old male Pompey and a half sister to stakes winner Caesarion (by Man o' War). Laughing Queen, in turn, is out of Cleopatra (by Corcyra), the American champion 3-year-old filly of 1920.
Books and media
Fun facts
Last updated: August 7, 2021
Race record
42 starts, 8 wins, 5 seconds, 4 thirds, US$215,012
1969:
- Won City of Miami Beach Handicap (USA, 8.5FD, Tropical Park)
1970:
- Won Kentucky Derby (USA, 10FD, Churchill Downs
- Won Blue Grass Stakes (USA, 9FD, Keeneland)
- 2nd Fayette Handicap (USA, 8.5FD, Keeneland)
- 3rd Monmouth Invitational Handicap (USA, 9FD, Monmouth)
- 3rd Clark Handicap (USA, 9FD, Churchill Downs)
Assessments
Rated at 125 pounds on the Daily Racing Form's Free Handicap for American 3-year-old males of 1970, 3 pounds below champion Personality.
As an individual
Dust Commander was a small, smoothly-made, short-coupled chestnut horse said to have weighed about 900 pounds when he won the Kentucky Derby; trainer Don Combs estimated his height at that time at about 15.1 hands. He had a strong, straight hind leg and well let down knees and hocks. He had a light, easy action while racing and was particularly effective over wet or drying-out tracks. In temperament, he was a tough customer, particularly in and around his stall.
As a stallion
According to records kept by The Jockey Club, Dust Commander sired 294 winners (54.4%) and 17 stakes winners (3.1%) from 540 named foals. Statistics for his progeny sired in Japan may be incomplete.
Notable progeny
Master Derby (USA), Run Dusty Run (USA)
Connections
Dust Commander was bred in Illinois by the Pullen Brothers. He was purchased by Robert Lehmann for US$6,500 from the 1968 Keeneland Fall Yearling Sale and was trained by Don Combs. Shortly after the Kentucky Derby, Combs and Lehmann parted ways and Dust Commander was afterward trained by I. K. Mourar. Dust Commander initially stood at Lehmann's Golden Chance Farm in 1971-1973 but was exported to Japan in 1974 due to lack of interest in his services from Kentucky breeders. After being repatriated to Kentucky in 1979, he stood at Gainesway Farm in 1980-1985. He moved to Springland Farm near Paris, Kentucky, in 1986 and died there in 1991. He was buried in an unmarked location on land that was later resold and divided. After his remains were found in a grave on Woodline Farm on July 5, 2013, they were relocated to the gardens of the Kentucky Derby Museum in Louisville, Kentucky, on July 8, 2013.
Pedigree notes
Sired by Bold Commander (a stakes-winning son of Bold Ruler out of High Voltage), Dust Commander is inbred 5x4 to 1930 Derby Stakes winner Blenheim II, the American champion sire of 1941. He was produced from Dust Storm, whose sire Windy City II was the English and Irish champion 2-year-old male of 1951.
A winner on the track, Dust Storm is a half sister to juvenile stakes winner Sal's Beau (by Bolero) and to Bolure (by Bolero), dam of multiple juvenile stakes winner Be Somebody (by Barbizon) and third dam of Grade 3 winner Amy Be Good. She and her siblings are out of the winning Challedon mare Challure, whose dam Captivation (by Stimulus) is a half sister to Alpoise (by Equipoise). While of no significance as a race mare, Alpoise is the dam of 1948 Cowdin Stakes winner Algasir (by Sir Gallahad III) and of 1953 Kentucky Broodmare of the Year Gaga (by Bull Dog), dam of 1953 American Horse of the Year Tom Fool (by Menow) and 1950 American champion 2-year-old filly Aunt Jinny (by Heliopolis). Alpoise also produced Bull Poise (by Bull Lea), dam of 1961 Jersey Derby winner Ambiopoise (by Ambiorix) and second dam of 1982 Canadian champion 3-year-old filly and sprinter Avowal.
Returning to Captivation, she is by Stimulus out of 1931 Selima Stakes winner Laughing Queen (by Sun Briar), a full sister to 1925 American champion 2-year-old male Pompey and a half sister to stakes winner Caesarion (by Man o' War). Laughing Queen, in turn, is out of Cleopatra (by Corcyra), the American champion 3-year-old filly of 1920.
Books and media
- “A Divine Victory,” chapter 12 of Peter Chew's The Kentucky Derby: The First 100 Years (Houghton Mifflin Company, 1974), tells the story of Dust Commander's Kentucky Derby victory.
- Dust Commander is profiled in Chapter 10 of Avalyn Hunter's American Classic Pedigrees 1914-2002 (2003, Eclipse Press).
Fun facts
- Just prior to Dust Commander's Kentucky Derby, owner Robert Lehmann went to India on a tiger hunt, candidly remarking, “It would mean twice as much to me to shoot a record tiger as to win the Kentucky Derby.” (An avid hunter who took twice-a-year trips to hunt big game, Lehmann had also commented that he would not come back early from one of his trips even if his wife was having a baby.) On April 23, Lehmann's birthday and the same day as Dust Commander's Blue Grass Stakes victory, Lehmann got his tiger. He flew back to watch the Kentucky Derby but insisted even after Dust Commander's surprise Derby win that there was no comparison between the two sports—to him, hunting was far more exciting. (To his credit, one of his kills was a tiger believed to have killed 117 villagers before Lehmann shot it.)
- Dust Commander took five tries to break his maiden. In his second start, he ran for a US$7,500 claiming tag with no takers. It would be 29 years after Dust Commander's Kentucky Derby win before another horse that had run in a claiming event would take the roses; this was Charismatic, who won the 1999 Kentucky Derby (USA-G1) and Preakness Stakes (USA-G1).
- Dust Commander was the first Illinois-bred horse to win the Kentucky Derby.
- Prior to the Blue Grass Stakes, Dust Commander received the Catholic Church's traditional blessing for domestic animals from Zambian Archbishop Emanuel Milingo, whose education Robert Lehmann had funded years earlier through the Society for the Propagation of the Faith. Dust Commander won at 35-1 odds, earning his ticket to the Kentucky Derby, and the archbishop's bets on the colt in the Blue Grass and the Derby ended up contributing US$1,662.60 to the Zambia Helper's Society (a charity providing trade school educations to native Zambians).
- Aside from the archbishop's blessing, Dust Commander and his connections carried several other tokens of luck or blessing. Jockey Mike Manganello wore a Saint Christopher's medal that had been blessed by the Pope. (Saint Christopher is widely considered the patron saint of travelers.) Robert Lehmann's wife Verna wore a pin he had brought back from India that was said to be a lucky token and had another bit of jewelry shaped like a four-leaf clover inside a horseshoe, and Lehmann carried neck bones from a tiger and a leopard he had shot, said to be lucky in Indian tradition. He also carried a rosary that his grandmother had given him when he was 7.
- Dust Commander's Kentucky Derby was the first to feature a female jockey as Diane Crump rode the longshot Fathom to a 15th-place finish. Also the first female jockey to complete in a sanctioned race with pari-mutuel betting in the United States, Crump never rode in the Kentucky Derby again but (according to Equibase) amassed 228 wins during her riding career. In 2020, Churchill Downs honored the 50th anniversary of Crump's pioneering ride by asking her to give the traditional call of "Riders up!" at the 146th Kentucky Derby.
- 18 minutes before the post time of Dust Commander's Kentucky Derby, a man glided down into the infield via a red, white, and blue parachute and managed to lose himself in the crowd before track security could catch up. Another man had tried to parachute in a few minutes earlier but overshot the track and landed in a neighboring street.
- Dust Commander's Kentucky Derby trophy was donated to the Kentucky Derby Museum by the Lehmann family in 2006.
- Dust Commander shares his final resting place on the grounds of the Kentucky Derby Museum with fellow Derby winners Brokers Tip (1933), Swaps (1955), Carry Back (1961), and Sunny's Halo (1983).
- Dust Commander was the first horse from the male line of eight-time American champion sire Bold Ruler to win the Kentucky Derby, beating Bold Ruler's great son Secretariat to the punch by three years. Bold Ruler's line is still going strong as a source of classic horses through the descendants of 1977 American Triple Crown winner Seattle Slew, a great-grandson of Bold Ruler.
- Dust Commander's Kentucky Derby jockey, Mike Manganello, never won the Derby again but accumulated over 2,500 career wins in the saddle and was inducted into the National Italian-American Sports Hall of Fame in 2017.
- Dust Commander's Kentucky Derby victory made Don Combs the youngest 20th-century trainer to win the Derby (he was 31).
- After the Lehmanns bought Golden Chance Farm in 1968, Robert Lehmann went to the Keeneland auctions and bought six yearlings to go with the six mares that had been part of the farm purchase. When interviewed by Meredith Daugherty of The Blood-Horse in 2020, Verna Lehmann recalled that when her husband came back home with his purchases, he told her that one of them would win the Kentucky Derby. He was right, as Dust Commander was one of that group.
Last updated: August 7, 2021