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Algorithms hands champion Hansen first defeat in Holy Bull

Posted: Sunday, January 29, 2012 5:11 PM

ALGORITHMS WINS HOLY BULL STAKES

Coglianese photos

To view the Holy Bull Stakes, click here.

by Mike Curry

In a battle of unbeatens it was Starlight Racing’s Algorithms who took down 2011 champion two-year-old male Hansen on Sunday in the $400,000 Holy Bull Stakes (G3) at Gulfstream Park.

Hansen, winner of the 2011 Grey Goose Breeders’ Cup Juvenile (G1) to secure the Eclipse Award and cap an unbeaten season, led into the stretch after setting the pace through a testing half-mile in :45.67 but could not hold off the late rush of Algorithms.

The Todd Pletcher-trained Bernardini colt swept past with an explosive turn of foot, opened a clear lead in early stretch, and completed the one-mile race in 1:36.17 on a sealed, sloppy track to prevail by five lengths.

“This race was going to tell us where we were with him, running against the two-year-old champion. Now, he’s done everything we’ve asked him to,” Pletcher said.

“It’s too early to say what we might do with him at this point. You can never have enough good three-year-olds, but you hate to run them against each other. Now we have Discreet Dancer and this colt that are two for two over the track. [Algorithms is] by Bernardini and I don’t think he’ll have distance limitations. So we just have to sort things out from here.”

Bred in Kentucky by Oakbrook Farm out of Grade 3-placed winner Ava Knowsthecode, a multiple graded stakes producer by Cryptoclearance, Algorithms was purchased by Starlight Partners for $170,000 at the 2010 Keeneland September yearling sale.

Algorithms won his debut at five furlongs on June 2011 at Belmont Park. He entered off a clear win on December 16 at Gulfstream in a 6 1/2-furlong optional claiming race and capably handled his stakes debut as the 5-to-2 second betting choice under Javier Castellano.

“He felt absolutely amazing today,” Castellano said. “He broke so sharp and wanted to go to the lead, but I just took my time. I don’t think two turns will be a problem for him. I rode his father, Bernardini, to win the Preakness [Stakes (G1)] and other big races and, hopefully, this horse can be like that. He certainly is in the right hands with Todd Pletcher.”

The Holy Bull was Pletcher’s third win on the card after taking the seventh race with talented three-year-old El Padrino and the Forward Gal Stakes (G2) with Broadway’s Alibi.

Hansen, who stumbled and ducked in at the start, held off My Adonis by a half-length for second as the 9-to-10 favorite.

“[Hansen] stumbled coming out of the gate and he picked himself up pretty quickly, but sometimes that scares a horse a little bit and they go a little fast,” Hansen’s jockey, Ramon Dominguez, said. “The stumble probably didn’t help but it’s not an excuse. I’m not happy that he didn’t win, but I’m not totally disappointed. When he got passed he really dug in and he galloped out really well.”

This year’s Holy Bull was held five years to the date that 2006 Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Brands (G1) winner Barbaro was euthanized from complications of laminitis at the University of Pennsylvania’s New Bolton Center.

Barbaro won the 2006 Holy Bull in his first start on dirt and defeated Algorithms' half brother Keyed Entry in winning the 2006 Kentucky Derby. Barbaro shattered his right hind limb in that year’s Preakness Stakes (G1), which was won by Algorithms sire, Bernardini.

For an Equibase chart, click here.