Divining Rod retired to Country Life Farm in Maryland

Divining Rod, a Grade 3 winner and classic-placed runner, has been retired and will debut at stud in 2018 at Country Life Farm in Bel Air, Md., for an advertised fee of $5,000.

The 5-year-old Tapit horse will stand for a partnership of Roy and Gretchen Jackson, who campaigned him on the racetrack, along with Country Life Farm and Kentucky-based Gainesway Farm.

Divining Rod was trained by Arnaud Delacour, winning five of 17 starts for earnings of $882,604. He notched wins in the Grade 3 Lexington Stakes and non-graded Polynesian Stakes, and his seven graded placings include a second by a head in the Grade 1 Cigar Mile Handicap and a third in the 2015 Preakness Stakes.

“I saw him win the Lexington, and I’ve had my eyes on him ever since,” Gainesway’s Antony Beck said. “I’m breeding 10 of my own mares to him for each of the next four years. I’m looking for the next Tapit.”

A Kentucky homebred for the Jacksons, Divining Rod is out of the Grade 1-winning Catienus mare Precious Kitten, whose three foals to race are all winners.