Strong Mandate Filly Commands $435,000 at The July Sale
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Photo: Anne M. Eberhardt
Hip 231, a filly by Strong Mandate, brought $435,000
When the hammer came down on Hip 231 to the tune of $435,000, Arkansas natives Alex and Jo Ann Lieblong snagged the sale-topper of the early afternoon at the Fasig-Tipton July Yearling Sale.
The bay filly by Strong Mandate is out of the Giant's Causeway mare Fly the Flag, a half sister to grade 1 stakes winner and champion Storm Flag Flying. Bred in Kentucky by WinStar Farm, the filly was consigned by Craig and Holly Bandoroff of Denali Stud.
"I wasn't going to come, but there wasn't anything going on today so I came up here," Lieblong said jokingly of his presence at the sale. "She is just a nice, nice filly. I really like the Strong Mandates, and she has a Giant's Causeway mare under her so if she proves she can do something she ought to have pretty good value."
Lieblong also purchased Hip 233, a Shackleford filly, for $200,000 from Bluewater Sales and said both would be trained by Steve Asmussen or Ron Moquett.
"She looks the part," Lieblong said of the Hip 231 who brought the second highest price of the July 10 sale. "I bought a Strong Mandate colt at OBS earlier this year and he should start at Saratoga. He's been a very straightforward horse."
Conrad Bandoroff of Denali Stud said WinStar general manager David Hanley had originally recommended putting the Strong Mandate in the July sale, the first and one of the smaller yearling sales of the season where she would have the best chance of standing out.
"She was a gorgeous filly and the right guys lined up on her," Bandoroff said. "She is a beautiful physical. She has residual value. We told people you pick up black type and she's worth a lot of money. She showed fantastic every single time. She was professional. People want quality and I think today demonstrated that."
The Lieblong's purchases ranked as two of 77 six-figure yearlings purchased Tuesday, three of which were private sales.