Algorithms, unbeaten in three starts, retired to stud

Grade 3 winner Algorithms, undefeated in his three starts, has been retired after “aggravating” a previous splint bone injury during training, his owner Starlight Racing announced Monday.

The 3-year-old capped his career in his only start this year, winning the Jan. 29 Holy Bull Stakes by five lengths. At 2, he won both his starts by a combined margin of 6 1/4 lengths. A fractured splint bone in his right front leg sidelined the Bernardini colt before he could make it to his intended destination this spring, the Kentucky Derby. He was scratched out of the Fountain of Youth Stakes on Feb. 26 and underwent surgery at the Ocala Equine Hospital. The colt returned to trainer Todd Pletcher at Belmont Park on Sept. 11 and was in training.

“We were optimistic about his future and return to the track,” Pletcher said in Starlight’s announcement. “He was one of the best 3-year-olds I have worked with. We had such great expectations of him last winter. It’s a disappointment, but he should have a great career ahead of him as a stallion.”

Starlight managing partner Jack Wolf said the stable had “received a significant level of interest” in Algorithms as a stallion prospect but that the colt had no firm stud plans yet.

Algorithms, a $170,000 Keeneland September yearling, is out of the Grade 3-placed Cryptoclearance mare Ava Knowsthecode, also the dam of graded winners Justin Phillip, Keyed Entry, Successful Mission, and of stakes winner Alex’s Allure.