Divining Rod bids to make happier Preakness memories for Jacksons

Divining Rod bids to make happier Preakness memories for
Jacksons

Nine years after Barbaro… (Courtesy of Maryland Jockey Club) Nine years after the Barbaro heartbreak, Gretchen and Roy Jackson are returning to Pimlico for the 140th Preakness S. (G1) on May 16 with another homebred colt — Divining Rod (Tapit) — who will run in the colors of their Lael Stables. Divining Rod, winner of the Lexington S. (G3) at Keeneland on April 11, will be the 27th Lael starter at Pimlico and first Preakness contender since Barbaro suffered catastrophic leg injuries early in the running of the Middle Jewel of the Triple Crown on May 20, 2006. Barbaro, the decisive winner of the Kentucky Derby (G1), was rushed from Pimlico to the University of Pennsylvania’s New Bolton Center in Kennett Square, Pennsylvania, where Dr. Dean Richardson and his team repaired the fractures in his right hind leg. However, the colt developed the hoof disease laminitis during his recovery and was euthanized on January 29, 2007, after veterinarians determined that he could not be saved. The Jacksons said Thursday they have no misgivings about running Divining Rod in the Preakness. “We’ve moved on from Barbaro,” Gretchen Jackson said. “Barbaro was deeply loved. I’ll never go through a day probably when I don’t think about him, but this is a new horse, new chapter, new everything. So, I don’t approach it with worry.”

Roy Jackson
agreed that he and his wife could not be prisoners to history.

“From my
standpoint, and I think Gretchen feels the same way, we were very lucky to have
him,” he said. “There were two roads you take. You could sort of sit there and
dwell on it and go over and over the thing, or you could go on with life, to
better things and happier days. I think we chose to look at the positive and go
on with our lives and really haven’t spent a whole lot of time dwelling on the
subject.”

Two weeks
after Barbaro provided the Jacksons with their greatest success in racing, they
were central figures in what became an international story about the valiant
effort to save the colt.

“It was
incredibly stressful because you second-guessed yourself every morning when you
got up or when you saw him,” Gretchen Jackson said. “One day, he was great, and
two weeks later, you were considering putting him down. It was a real
roller-coaster ride. It was very stressful, being in constant contact with press
and people you didn’t know and being asked to deal with facts and deal with
emotions all the time. It was hard.”

The Jacksons
had nothing but kind words for everyone involved with Barbaro, from those who
rushed to his aid at the track to the staff at New Bolton.

“They were
fantastic. We wouldn’t do anything different than what was done,” Roy Jackson
said.

Due to their
many years as breeders and owners, the Jacksons understood that racing’s highs
and lows can come in quick succession and were better equipped to face the
tragedy.

“We’ve been
in it so long, thank God, and we’ve lived with horses on the farm so long that
we were somehow baptized into dealing with it,” Gretchen Jackson said. “Not
dealing with all the amount of press and attention it got — that was really new
for us. But dealing with horses and tragedies, we had some experience with
that.”

Roy Jackson
said they have fond memories of the public support that flowed to them for
Barbaro.

“Going
through it, there was so much positive,” he said. “The number of people we heard
from — I think we heard from people in every state in the country and 14
foreign countries, and the amount of kids who sent us things was unbelievable.
An awful lot of positives came out of the whole thing.”

…another Lael homebred, Divining Rod, will try the Preakness (Coady Photography) While Barbaro had a regal air about him, Divining Rod is a character. “He’s a high-energy horse. If he was a person, you would say he is boisterous,” Gretchen Jackson said. “He puts a lot into everything he does. And he’s very, very high on himself. He likes himself a lot. When he comes out of the gate he just wants to zoom and do everything.” That need-the-lead running style did not serve him well at Tampa Bay Downs, where he tired to finish second in the Sam F. Davis (G3) and third in the Tampa Bay Derby (G2) for trainer Arnaud Delacour. Without warning, a different more tractable Divining Rod showed up at Keeneland and beat favored Donworth (Tiznow) by three lengths. “The transition that was made in the Lexington was that he didn’t come out of the gate and have to be on the front end, streaking around the racetrack,” she said. “He was able to be brought back and kept close to the pace, but then he ran on and he showed tactical speed. He showed relaxation and a certain maturity. He stunned us all.”

As it turned
out, Divining Rod did have enough qualifying points to make the Derby field from
the also-eligible list. However, the Jacksons and Delacour had already decided
not to run the colt back three weeks after the Lexington triumph and pointed him
to the Preakness. The son of Tapit, out of multiple Grade 1 winner Precious
Kitten, has been getting ready for the Preakness at the pastoral Fair Hill
Training Center in Elkton, Maryland.

Rachel
Alexandra in 2009 is the most recent new shooter to win the Preakness after
bypassing the Derby. Gretchen Jackson acknowledged that her colt faces a
difficult assignment, but noted that American Pharoah (Pioneerof the Nile) had to work hard to defeat
Firing Line (Line of David) and Dortmund (Big Brown) in the Derby.

“It’s a good group.
It’s tough,” Roy Jackson concurred, “but I think Divining Rod deserves a chance
to see if he can compete or not.”

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