lgorithms romps to a five-length victory in the Holy Bull at Gulfstream
PICTURE: Joe Ganley/EquiSport PhotosAlgorithms humbles Hansenin Holy Bull
Report: USA, Sunday
Gulfstream Park: Holy Bull Stakes (Grade 3) 1m, dirt, 3yo
SOMETHING had to give on Sunday when Breeders' Cup Juvenile winner Hansen met the promising Algorithms on a wet track in the Holy Bull, first step on the Florida trail to the Kentucky Derby.
Both colts were putting unbeaten records on the line in the $400,000 feature - and it was Algorithms (Todd Pletcher/ Javier Castellano) who came off best with a comfortable five-length victory to extend his winning record to three from three.
The son of Bernardini was also completing a graded-stakes double for Pletcher, who had earlier landed a runaway victory via three-year-old filly Broadway's Alibi in the Grade 2 Forward Gal.
Algorithms, who had won an allowance race at Gulfstream earlier this month, sat just off 9-10 favourite Hansen, last year's Eclipse Award-winning two-year-old, before taking over at the furlong pole and drawing away to catapult himself into the Triple Crown picture.
A 5-2 chance, Algorithms covered the 1m in 1m36.17s. "We knew we were going to find out where we stood, running against the two-year-old champ," said Pletcher.
"You can never have enough good three-year-olds in this business," added Pletcher. "Now we have Discreet Dancer and Algorithms who are two for two over this track but you hate to run them against each other. He's by Bernardini and I don't think he'll have distance limitations."
Algorithms is rated 12-1 second favourite for the Kentucky Derby withCoral, who pushed Hansen out to 20-1. Union Rags remains the firm's 10-1 market leader.
Also on Sunday
Broadway's Alibi wins the Forward Gal Stakes by 16¾ lengths
PICTURE: Joe Ganley/EquiSport Photos
Gulfstream Park: Forward Gal Stakes (Grade 2) 7f, dirt, 3yo fillies
Even before Algorithms, Todd Pletcher had already unveiled a potential new star on Sunday's Gulfstream card as Broadway's Alibi (John Velazquez) produced a dominant front-running display to score by no fewer than 16¾ lengths in this prep race for the Gulfstream Oaks in March.
After being beaten on her debut last term, the daughter of Vindication has now won three subsequent starts by a cumulative total of nearly 29 lengths.
In Sunday's $200,000 contest, Broadway's Alibi was sent off 6-5 favourite before going straight to the lead and pulverising her rivals. She set stiff fractions in the slop, finally stopping the clock at 1m21.94s.
"She's fast," said Pletcher. "I don't know about distance - I guess we'll have to find out at some point."
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