Akasha is being bred in 2016 to Data Link (War Front x Database, by Known Fact; stands for $7,500 at Claiborne).
Data Link is a member of the first crop of current leading international stallion War Front, and now stands alongside his sire at the historic Claiborne Farm. After running well in two dirt tries at Saratoga to kick off his career (including a 4th of 14 behind Astrology and To Honor and Serve), Data Link broke his maiden going a mile-and-a-sixteenth on turf in his 2-year-old finale. He won a trio of turf allowances from four sophomore starts, and as a 4-year-old he won the Grade 1 Maker’s 46 Mile at Keeneland (over Turallure, Doubles Partner and Get Stormy) and set a new course record when victorious in the mile-and-an-eighth Monmouth Stakes-G2T (defeating Get Stormy and Presious Passion). Data Link closed out that season by shipping across country and winning the Grade 2 Citation Handicap going a mile-and-a-sixteenth on turf in 1:41 flat over the likes of Ultimate Eagle, Doubles Partner and Jeranimo. He also placed in a pair of Graded turf stakes during the year. As a 5-year-old, Data Link added a victory in the Canadian Turf-G3T (over Za Approval) and was 2nd to Eclipse Horse of the Year Wise Dan when attempting to defend his title in the Maker’s 46 Mile.
Akasha’s foal will be a member of Data Link’s third crop. He covered 121 mares in his first crop, and 122 in his second, so he’ll have plenty of opportunities to get off to a fast start at stud much like his own sire did at an only slightly higher introductory stud fee (more on War Front’s rapid rise from Sid Fernando). Data Link’s first foals will sell this summer as yearlings, and his first weanlings to sell last fall included a $120,000 individual, plus a pair that sold for $85,000 and one at $70,000, all off of his $7,500 stud fee, suggesting that he throws a nice individual. Stallion sons of War Front are all the rage right now, with The Factor and Declaration of War having attained high averages for their first crops at the sales, so it will be interesting to see how their first runners fare before the Data Links hit the track in 2017.
TrueNicks rates the match of Data Link and Akasha an “A” based on the cross of Danzig-line stallions with Pleasant Tap mares. Included among the stakes winners on this cross is Group 3 winner Gamble Me, who is quite closely related to the eventual Akasha foal by Data Link. Going further, at least three of War Front’s Grade/Group-winning offspring feature Pleasant Colony or his sire His Majesty in their bottom lines, specifically Lines of Battle, War Command and Summer Front. Meanwhile, War Front’s 2015 European Champion 2-year-old Air Force Blue has a second dam by Seeking the Gold, while Akasha’s second dam is Seeking the Gold’s full-sister.
Akasha’s female family has consistently produced its best runners when mated with Northern Dancer-line stallions, and more specifically with Danzig and his descendants. Akasha’s second dam, Miner’s Game (as noted above, a full-sister to Grade 1 winner and leading sire Seeking the Gold, more on the female family from Anne Peters here) produced Grade 3 winner and Grade 1-placed Survivalist by Danzig himself, as well as Survivalist’s multiple Grade 2-placed full-brother Polish Miner and another winning full-brother in Polish Gift. Miner’s Game also produced the stakes winner Power Game by Dixie Union (a Northern Dancer grandson), and her A.P. Indy daughter Trading (a half-sister to Akasha’s dam) produced Grade 3 winner Awesome Chic by Awesome Again (a son of Northern Dancer’s grandson Deputy Minister).
In addition to Seeking the Gold, Miner’s Game is also a full-sister to Looking for Gold, whose daughter Good Gamble (by Pleasant Tap, and thus closely related to Akasha) is the dam of the multiple Group 3-winning and Group 2-placed Gamble Me by Danzig’s grandson Rock of Gibraltar. Akasha herself is a half-sister to the unraced Take It, dam of Group 3 winner Take It All by another Danzig grandson Catcher in the Rye.
Interestingly, the foal from this mating will be a complete outcross through 5 generations, though Mr. Prospector appears 6×4, and Data Link himself features Northern Dancer 3×5.
We anticipate that Data Link will contribute some speed and precocity to the more classically-inclined tendencies of Akasha’s female family, and physically they should match up nicely, with the sturdy Data Link adding some some mass to the foal of the longer, leggier Akasha.