Data Link retired to stud at Claiborne

Data Link, whose signature win came in the 2012 Maker’s 46 Mile, will stand alongside his red-hot sire War Front (Keeneland/Coady Photography)

Stuart S. Janney III’s homebred Data Link, a Grade 1 winner and course
record-setter by top Claiborne stallion War Front, has been retired from racing
and will enter stud at Claiborne Farm in 2014, according to farm representative
Bernie Sams.  

During his highly-successful 2012 campaign, Data Link rallied smartly to earn
a Grade 1 title in the Maker’s 46 Mile at Keeneland. In addition, he set a
course record winning the 1 1/8-mile Monmouth Stakes, placed in both the 1
1/16-mile Bernard Baruch Handicap at Saratoga and the Canadian Turf at
Gulfstream, then closed out the year with a 2 1/4-length romp in the Citation
Handicap at Hollywood Park.  

Trained by Hall of Famer Shug McGaughey, Data Link started this season with a
bang by taking the one-mile Canadian Turf. As the defending champion in the
Maker’s 46, he finished second, beaten only a length by reigning Horse of the
Year Wise Dan. Data Link was an uncharacteristic fourth in his only subsequent
start, the July 4 Poker at Belmont. Also a winner at both two and three, Data
Link retires with a record of 18-8-2-1 and earnings of $831,335.

“We are pleased to have Data Link at Claiborne,” Sams said. “He was a very
good, very consistent racehorse. He has an attractive pedigree, and it has no
Mr. Prospector until the fifth generation. I think he will be a good outcross
for a lot of breeders.”