“I thought he’d run huge, I really did,” said trainer D. Wayne Lukas, on his
“I think (the post) was key,” Lukas continued. “Everybody got away good, I
Strong Mandate broke from the gate well and tracked the leaders in third on
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“He’s a big, strong, powerful horse, but he’s got a little bit of kick to
him,” Lukas said. “I told (jockey Jose Ortiz), ‘Don’t be so surprised if you’re
laying right there. Just be a little careful with the fractions.’ He was
comfortable. I told him to come right up the four hole coming home, and it looks
like he did.”
The two-year-old colt took over the lead in the stretch as Corfu started to fade. No one else came up to challenge Strong Mandate,
who slowly
started to pull away while leaving his competition in his rear-view. While the rest of
the field was battling for second, the son of Tiznow crossed the wire in 1:23
2/5 for the seven-furlong test.
“I asked him a little bit because I knew (Corfu) is a tough horse,”
Ortiz said. “I cracked him one time on the shoulder, and he put me right beside
him, so I knew I had a lot of horse. At the eighth pole I looked back, and
nobody was coming, so I tried to say something. He’s a good baby. I’m very happy,
very excited. It’s my first Grade 1.”
The 30-1 longest shot on the board, Casiguapo, eventually got up for second,
with Lunarwarfare three-quarters of a length back in third. Big Sugar Soda, Sanford winner Wired Bryan, Long On Value, All in
Blue, King Cyrus, Saratoga Special winner Corfu and Southern Blessing rounded
out the order of finish.
Strong Mandate made his debut on July 22 over the Saratoga strip,
finishing a well-beaten fifth in a race that Big Sugar Soda won by
8 1/4 lengths. Strong Mandate would return to the track the following month and
broke his maiden by 4 1/2 lengths while adding blinkers.
“I like to give all my horses a race without blinkers and let them get dirt
in their face and go through the whole drill,” Lukas said. “I didn’t want them
all to get left at the gate like they have all season long. Second out you’ll
see all my horses come with blinkers and usually improve, if they’ve got some
ability. The horse is the most important thing. I can only deal with what I’ve
got in front of me. Given something to work with, we usually get along pretty
good.”
Bred in Kentucky by G. Watts Humphrey Jr., Strong Mandate is out of the
multiple Grade 1-winning Clear Mandate, who is a half-sister to Grade 2 victress Dream Scheme. Strong Mandate is a half-sister to multiple Grade 3
scorer Newfoundland as well as English Group 2-placed The Mighty Tiger. The
bay’s second dam is the Grade 1 winning Dream Deal. His third dam is Grade 1
queen Likely Exchange, who produced the multiple Grade 1 victor Creme Fraiche,
hero of the 1985 Belmont Stakes.
“These guys, Bill Mack and Bob Baker, have been with me 25 years,” Lukas
said. “We’ve gone through a lot. We only buy two or three a year. Most years
two, this year we got three. They’ve stayed with us. We’ve had Grand Slam and
Dublin down through the years, and Scorpion. We got some nice horses, but I
don’t know if we’ve had one this good. This is a pretty good horse.
“We were pointing before the Breeders’ Cup long before we won this,” Lukas
added. “I’m going to look for a two-turn race. I don’t know where that would be.
We’re in a position now where we can deal from a position of strength. Hell, we
could go straight to the Breeders’ Cup and not be too far off. We did it with
Capote and some others.”
Strong Mandate sold as a yearling for $200,000 at the Keeneland September
sale and has now earned $230,400.
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