Sons of Data Link meet again

Data Link, a foal of 2008, was a very good middle-distance turf runner, winning the Grade 1 Maker’s Mark Mile in 2012 and finishing second in the same race a year later. His stallion career, which began in 2014, did not go so well.

Data Link didn’t sire any horses of note from his early crops and by 2019, at age 11, he’d been pensioned at Claiborne Farm, but the two best horses he produced are among eight entrants Saturday at Fair Grounds in the $75,000 Bob Wright Memorial Stakes.

Five-year-old Logical Myth has earned $386,155, tops among all Data Link progeny though only about $13,000 more than 6-year-old Big Agenda. Both have earned a Beyer Speed Figure of 95, highest among Data Link’s offspring.

Logical Myth, trained by Joe Sharp, and Big Agenda, trained by Mike Maker, are contenders in the Bob Wright. Pedigree curiosities aside, bettors should judge Logical Myth the more likely winner of the 1 1/16-mile Wright, which should remain on turf (temporary rail at seven feet) if the forecast holds. The two Data Links met last season at Fair Grounds, with Logical Myth winning the Colonel E.R. Bradley Stakes and Big Agenda second.

Forty Under and Monarchs Glen, both also trained by Maker, appear capable, and Forty Under ought to be forwardly placed on a moderate tempo. But do keep this stat in mind: Over the last four Fair Grounds meet, Maker-trained horses have a win record of 1 for 52 in turf stakes, with that lonely winner coming four seasons ago.

Logical Myth during the 2020-21 Fair Grounds season captured the Buddy Diliberto Memorial before easily winning the Bradley and going on to finish second in the Fair Grounds Stakes and third in the Muniz Memorial, the meet’s most important turf race. A great claim by Sharp and owner JPS Racing, who haltered the gelding for $40,000 in May 2020, Logical Myth has been freshened since capping a long, demanding form cycle by winning the West Virginia Speaker’s Cup on Aug. 7 at Mountaineer, where he beat Monarchs Glen by a neck.

Logical Myth and Deshawn Parker, who rides the gelding for the first time, should stalk a moderate pace, with Forty Under and Pirates Punch the likely front-runners. Pirates Punch is the best dirt horse entered but never has tried turf, though trainer Grant Forster said he races Saturday even if the Wright remains on grass.

All of which leads to Pixelate, the top selection, who at his peak probably is a notch better than Logical Myth, whom he beat by one length on the Pimlico turf this past June.

“He’s good enough to beat these horses with a good trip,” trainer Mike Stidham said.

Four-year-old Pixelate drops in class after finishing seventh, beaten only 3 1/2 lengths, in the Grade 1 Keeneland Turf Mile last month. He’s got a win and a second from three Fair Grounds grass starts – and much of the data links him to a Saturday victory.