LEXINGTON, Ky. -- Bob and Beverly Lewis's Belmont Stakes winner, Commendable, has been retired and will begin his breeding career in 2001 at Mill Ridge Farm in Lexington, farm owner Alice Chandler announced Wednesday.

	Commendable, with jockey Pat Day aboard, is led by co-owner Bob Lewis following his 2000 Belmont Stakes win.

The 3-year-old colt, a son of Mill Ridge stallion Gone West, will stand his initial season for $15,000, live foal. Commendable had not run since finishing second in the Sept. 30 Super Derby at Louisiana Downs.

"Mr. Lewis just wanted to go ahead and bring him home and start him at stud," said Chandler, who owns Mill Ridge with her husband, Dr. John Chandler. She added that Commendable arrived Tuesday at Mill Ridge and is available for viewing.

Trained by D. Wayne Lukas, Commendable won his career debut at Del Mar at age 2. His only other victory came in the Belmont, where he was sent off at odds of 18-1 and defeated Aptitude by 1 1/2 lengths. That victory gave the Lewises their first Belmont Stakes trophy. Twice before, in 1997 with Silver Charm and 1999 with Charismatic, the owners had come into the Belmont with Triple Crown hopes, only to see their horses beaten.

The Lewises purchased their eventual Belmont winner for $575,000 from the Keeneland July yearling sale, where Commendable was offered by breeders Greg, Michael, and Edward Kelly Jr., through the Taylor Made Sales Agency.

Though he only won two races, he did finish in the top three in a pair of other Grade 1 contests. Commend-able finished third in the Travers Stakes, then finished second, six lengths behind eventual Breeders' Cup Classic winner Tiznow, in the Super Derby. From a record of 12-2-1-1, including fourth-place finishes in stakes behind Kentucky Derby winner Fusaichi Pegasus and Breeders' Cup Mile winner War Chant, Commendable earned $907,470.

Commendable is the best foal so far for his dam, the In Reality matron Bought Twice. Bought Twice, a winner herself, is also the dam of the winning Mr. Prospector filly Prospective.

Commendable will stand at Mill Ridge as the property of a syndicate.