Stallion Spotlight: Claiborne Farm’s Walker Hancock and Bernie Sams On Algorithms

Stallion Spotlight offers stud farm representatives a chance to address breeders and answer questions as they finalize their mating decisions for the 2020 breeding season.

In this edition, Claiborne Farm president Walker Hancock and stallion seasons and bloodstock manager Bernie Sams discuss Algorithms, the sire of Grade 1 winner Math Wizard.

Algorithms
B. h., 2009, Bernardini x Ava Knowsthecode, by Cryptoclearance
Race Record: 3-3-0-0; $301,500
Notable Wins: G3 Holy Bull Stakes
Advertised Fee: $5,000

1) What is Algorithms’ strongest selling point as a stallion?

Hancock: I think he gets a ton of winners and nobody really realizes it. He’ll add some speed to a mare.

2) If I’ve got a mare that needs help from the stallion on a physical characteristic, what can Algorithms best contribute to the equation?

Hancock: He’ll put some leg underneath them. He’ll give them some size, and he’ll give them speed.

3) What can a breeder expect from an Algorithms foal as a weanling? As a yearling?

Hancock: I think they can get a pretty racy-looking individual. You can get a really good sale horse, because they look like they can be quick and fast.

4) Now that we’ve seen the first Algorithms foals reach maturity, what’s your read on what a fully-grown Algorithms runner looks like?

Hancock: They’re usually one-turn sprinters. You think of Recruiting Ready or He Hate Me, most of them are dirt or turf sprinters.

5) What crosses – either physical or pedigree – seem to be the most consistent in producing winners from Algorithms, and which ones do you think might have potential to grow in that category?

Hancock: We’ve sent a wide variety of horses to him. Sagamore Farm (owner of He Hate Me and Recruiting Ready) seems to have the formula figured out with him on which ones to buy.

Sams: He’s got stakes winners out of a Ghostzapper mare, Old Trieste, Harlan’s Holiday, Awesome Again. It’s across the board.

6) It appears the Algorithms foals have gotten better with age. In a commercial market that’s very “win now” at the moment, how do you convey that a patient horseman can be rewarded with an Algorithms foal?

Hancock: A lot of our stallions kind of start out slow because we don’t breed as many numbers as a lot of the other guys. By the time they have the numbers that compare to most every other stallion, that’s when they’re in their second or third crops. I think people need to be patient with our stallions until they get going because we don’t have the numbers to compete with everybody else.

Sams: A lot of the horses that are here get 2-year-olds. For the most part, I think what we’ve always tried to do is find stallions that can get you a classic horse – a two-turn filly or colt – so you can win the Travers or the Alabama; horses that’ll get better as they get older. It’s hard to find horses that’ll win the Hopeful, the Champagne, the Derby, the Travers, and the Jockey Club Gold Cup. Horses that are flashy, fast 2-year-olds, where do they end up? If you look at a lot of the Derby horses nowadays, they weren’t running in August [of their juvenile seasons]. The horses that are here can get 2-year-olds, but we tend to give somebody the opportunity to get a horse that could be quick around one turn, but certainly have the opportunity to have a nice two-turn horse.

7) What’s something about Algorithms that you think goes overlooked?

Hancock: How many winners he gets and how much speed he can add to a mare.

Sams: I think the speed factor for him. I think everybody looks at the Bernardini [on the top of the pedigree] thinking it’s not speed, and it is.

8) What makes Algorithms a value in his price bracket?

Hancock: How many stallions can get you a Grade 1 winner standing for under $5,000?

9) What else should someone considering Algorithms know before making the call?

Hancock: If you’re looking to get a mare’s first foal to be a winner, and you’re looking to breed cheap, you should look no further. You’ll get the mare off to a good start, and who knows? It could turn into a Math Wizard or a Recruiting Ready, or one of his better horses.

To learn more about Algorithms, click here.

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