Strong Mandate to Three Chimneys for 2015

Grade 1 winner Strong Mandate will join the stallion roster at Three Chimneys Farm in Midway, Ky., for the 2015 breeding season, with a fee to be announced at a later date.

The 3-year-old Tiznow colt won 2 of 8 starts and earned $529,566 in two seasons. Bred in Kentucky by G. Watts Humphrey Jr., Strong Mandate was purchased at the 2012 Keeneland September yearling sale for $200,000 by Robert Baker and William Mack, who campaigned the colt under the direction of trainer D. Wayne Lukas.

Strong Mandate was one of the standout juveniles at the summer 2013 Saratoga meet, winning his second start by 4 1/2 lengths over Tapiture and romping in the Grade 1 Hopeful Stakes by 9 1/4 lengths over a muddy track. He concluded his 2-year-old season with a good third in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile at Santa Anita and began his sophomore campaign with a runner-up finish to Tapiture in the Grade 3 Southwest at Oaklawn before going unplaced in his final two starts. He was retired in May.

The well-bred Strong Mandate joins the champion Will Take Charge and possibly classic winner Palace Malice (who may remain in training in 2015) at Three Chimneys. The colt is out of Grade 1 winner and millionaire Clear Mandate, by Deputy Minister, and is a half-brother to Grade 3 winner Newfoundland, the Group 2-placed The Mighty Tiger, and the stakes winner Full Mandate; the last is the sire of multiple Grade 1 winner Ron the Greek.

Strong Mandate’s second and third dams, Dream Deal and Likely Exchange, also are Grade 1 winners. Among his notable relatives is Belmont winner and $4 million earner Crème Fraiche.