Divisidero, a multiple Grade 1-winning son of leading sire Kitten’s Joy, has been retired to stand at Brereton C. Jones’ Airdrie Stud, the farm announced. His stud fee will be $7,500 SN.
An eye-catching winner in his Gulfstream Park debut for owner Gunpowder Farm and trainer Buff Bradley, Divisidero quickly gained national attention when taking the Grade 2 American Turf Stakes on the Kentucky Derby undercard in just his third career start. His final time for the last 1/16th of the race was a well documented :5 2/5 seconds. In his next start, Divisidero set a new track record at Belmont Park for 1 1/8 miles when besting subsequent turf stars Takeover Target and World Approval in the Pennine Ridge Stakes.
Divisidero’s signature victories came in back-to-back runnings of the Grade 1 Woodford Reserve Turf Classic at Churchill Downs, where he once again defeated Eclipse champion World Approval, as well as Eclipse champion Big Blue Kitten, three-time Grade 1 winner Beach Patrol, Breeders’ Cup Mile winner Tourist and multiple Grade 1 winner Bal a Bali, among others.
Transferred to the barn of trainer Kelly Rubley prior to the 2018 season, Divisidero went on to take that year’s Grade 3 Arlington Handicap and placed in the one-mile Grade 1 Fourstardave Handicap at Saratoga before coming up just 3/4 of a length short in the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Mile. A winner of Monmouth Park’s Grade 3 Red Bank Stakes at a mile in his penultimate start of 2019, he was beaten by just one-and-a-half lengths in his career finale, the G1 Shadwell Turf Mile at Keeneland.
Following an illustrious career where he tallied 13 triple-digit Beyer Speed figures, Divisidero retires sound with earnings of $1,606,762, and the distinction of having won a graded stakes race every year in which he ran.
Bred by Hinkle Farms out of the Lemon Drop Kid mare, Madame Du Lac, Divisidero was purchased for $250,000 by Josh Stevens, then of Margaux Farm, on behalf of Gunpowder Farms at the Keeneland September Yearling Sale. His rich pedigree traces in tail-female line to the legendary blue hen mare, Cosmah, ancestress of breed-shaping stallions Northern Dancer, Halo and Danehill.
“Divisidero is a multiple Grade 1-winning millionaire by one of the best stallions in the world and from one of the most important female families the breed has known,” said Airdrie Stud’s Bret Jones. “When he was at his best, he beat the top turf horses in America at the Grade 1 level and did so with the turn-of-foot of a special horse. He deserves every chance to become an important sire, and we are going to give him that opportunity by supporting him heavily here at Airdrie.”
