Hancock the driving force for farm to build on historical success

History seeps through every aspect of Claiborne Farm. It is where Nasrullah, Blenheim and Sir Gallahad had their most productive years. Later, it was the home of Bold Ruler, Secretariat, Round Table, Buckpasser, Nijinsky, Mr Prospector and Danzig, and the birthplace of Fairy Bridge, dam of Sadler’s Wells, among a host of other luminaries.

For much of the farm’s history, its owners, the Hancock family, have operated under the same modus operandi. And in turn, Claiborne has remained a forerunner not only in the stallion business but as an owner, breeder and sales consignor - as the farm slogan iterates, it’s a matter of ‘doing the usual unusually well’.

In January 2014, four years after celebrating its 100th anniversary, Claiborne welcomed a new president in Walker Hancock, the fourth in a line of Hancock men to take the helm, and today, buoyed by the ongoing success of their flagship stallion War Front, it is a farm guided by a mix of fresh ideas incorporated with tradition.