Three Amigos Pays $850,000 for Early Voting Filly at OBS Sale

Donato Lanni made another bold move for Three Amigos on the final day at Ocala, going to $850,000 for Hip 1037, a fast Early Voting filly who had already flashed enough zip to draw top-end attention. The buy fit the sale’s closing-session test: by then, the market is separating the truly elite juveniles from the merely promising, and this filly landed squarely in the elite column.

The purchase also matched the Three Amigos playbook. Lanni was acting for Michael Pegram, Karl Watson and Paul Weitman, a partnership that has never been shy about paying for speed, presence and upside. Lanni said the filly was easy to like after she worked a co-fastest quarter-mile in :20 2/5 during the under-tack show, and the plan is to ship her to Bob Baffert’s barn. That combination of sharp breeze, trainer appeal and market confidence explains why the price kept climbing. Three Amigos also spent $725,000 on a colt by Honor A. P. at the same sale, another sign they came to Florida ready to play at the top.

Hip 1037 brought more than speed. The dark bay or brown filly was bred in Kentucky by Doug and Felicia Branham and Pippa’s Hurricane, and she is the second foal out of the American Pharoah mare Lipstikliesnlovers. That mare is out of graded stakes winner Cherokee Queen, and the family also includes Grade 1 winner Domestic Product, who captured the 2024 H. Allen Jerkens Memorial Stakes at Saratoga. Jesse Hoppel / Hoppel LLC consigned the filly, putting another quality horse into a market that kept producing big numbers right through the end.

For Early Voting, the price is another loud commercial signal. The classic-winning son of Gun Runner and 2022 Preakness Stakes hero has already shown strong early demand, with his first juveniles bringing as much as $475,000 and his first yearlings reaching $700,000. This filly pushed the ceiling higher still, and it did so in a sale that later produced an OBS-record $10.5 million Flightline colt. OBS said the 2026 April sale set new high-water marks across the board, and Hip 1037 helped prove why: buyers are still willing to go hard for athletic, fashionable juveniles when the blend of speed, pedigree and trainer approval lines up.