First Foal a Filly for Divining Rod
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Photo: Courtesy of Country Life Farm
First Foal for Divining Rod out of Dixie Dancer
Young Maryland stallion Divining Rod , a classic-placed son of Tapit owned by Gainesway Farm, Roy and Gretchen Jackson's Lael Stable, and Country Life Farm, is represented by his reported first foal, a Maryland-bred filly born at Country Life Jan. 16.
Divining Rod's first foal is also the first foal out of the 5-year-old Gainesway mare Dixie Dancer, a Union Rags half sister to 2009 champion juvenile filly She Be Wild. Dixie Dancer, a $460,000 Fasig-Tipton Saratoga Select sale yearling of 2015, is among the complement of 10 mares being sent by Gainesway to support Divining Rod in each of the stallion's first four years at stud.
An earner of $882,604, Divining Rod challenged Triple Crown winner American Pharoah in the 2015 Xpressbet.com Preakness Stakes (G1), finishing third. He was beaten a head in the Cigar Mile Handicap (G1), won the Coolmore Lexington Stakes (G3), and ran second to Sharp Azteca in the Bold Ruler Handicap (G3).
Divining Rod was bred by the Jacksons out of three-time grade 1 winner and $1,912,543 earner Precious Kitten, half sister to leading sire Kitten's Joy .
"The filly looks just her daddy," reported Country Life general manager Christy Holden. "A beautiful blaze-faced, good-boned baby, for a strong new force in Maryland breeding, our partner Gainesway. A super start to the 2019 foaling season here at Country Life, where we expect to foal approximately 80 mares this spring."
Divining Rod was the most popular stallion in Maryland in 2018, covering 102 mares, according to The Jockey Club's Report of Mares Bred. He stands at Country Life for a live foal fee of $5,000.