1999: two-year-old season

Prior to the Belmont Stakes, Commendable earned $88,470 in seven races and his only win came in August 1999 in his debut: a Del Mar maiden race for two-year-olds. In his only other start at age two, he finished fourth in the Del Mar Futurity a month later. Despite his modest achievements in 1999, he was identified as a potential contender for the Triple Crown races by his trainer, D. Wayne Lukas.^[5]

2000: three-year-old season

In 2000, Commendable lost four races leading up to the Triple Crown series, although he finished fourth in the San Felipe Stakes to Fusaichi Pegasus and the San Rafael Stakes to War Chant.^[6] In the Kentucky Derby, he finished seventeenth in a nineteen-horse field, after which his handlers chose not to run him in the Preakness Stakes.^[7]

On a sweltering^[5] day at Belmont, Commendable was among the outsiders for the third leg of the Triple Crown, despite the absence of leading three-year-olds Fusaichi Pegasus and Red Bullet. Lukas observed that he would need "a career best" to win.^[8] Ridden by Pat Day, Commendable raced prominently, took the lead half a mile from the finish and stayed on in the straight to hold off the 9/5 favorite Aptitude by a length and a half.^[9] The 67,000 crowd were reportedly stunned by the Commendable's win^[10] which was achieved in a slow time of 2:31.2.

Following his Belmont win, Commendable finished fourth in the Dwyer Stakes^[11] and then finished eighth of the nine starters in the Haskell Invitational Handicap. He later took third in the Travers Stakes and second behind Tiznow in the Super Derby.^[12] Commendable did not race again, and his retirement was announced in November.^[13]