Oaklawn’s leading trainer grooms Derby prospect

Robertino Diodoro’s stable isn’t the first place one usually looks for a Kentucky Derby prospect.

Oaklawn Park’s 2020 training champion does much of his business through the claiming box, although he did saddle 2017 Grade II Oaklawn Handicap winner Inside Straight and the inaugural winner of the Temperence Hill Stakes this year, Sky Promise.

Diodoro’s focus may change slightly in the 2021 Oaklawn season, set to begin Friday, Jan. 22. Along with holding off Steve Asmussen, Brad Cox and others with large stables and hopes of topping the Oaklawn training standings, Diodoro also will be monitoring the progress of a stakes-winning 3-year-old in his barn.

Keep me in mind currently is jogging at WinStar Farm in Kentucky and is scheduled to arrive at Oaklawn between Christmas and New Year’s Day.

Diodoro’s colt tipped his hand during the fall racing season in Kentucky. The late-running son of Laoban scored his maiden victory (fourth start) in the Grade 2 $200,000 Kentucky Jockey Club Nov. 28 at Churchll Downs. That came off a second to eventual Breeders’ Cup Juvenile winner Essential Quality in the Grade 1 $400,000 Breeders’ Futurity Oct. 3 at Keeneland.

The colt’s last three starts coming at 1 1/16 miles, Diodoro is ruling out the $150,000 Smarty Jones Stakes Jan. 22 at Oaklawn as a comeback race.

“Probably too short for him, especially with the mile here (start and finish line at the sixteenth-mile maker),” Diodoro said. “It’s a short lane and stuff.”

Oaklawn offers three Kentucky Derby preps besides the Smarty Jones: the Grade 3 Southwest and the Grade 2 Rebel, both at 1 1/16 miles, and the Grade 1 Arkansas Derby at nine furlongs.

Keep me in mind has 18 points to rank second on the early Kentucky Derby leaderboard. The goal is to return fo Churchill Downs for the 147th Run for the Roses May 1, having run second at the Louisville track in his Sept. 2 career debut.

“Just one step at a time,” said Diodoro, who has not started a horse in a Triple Crown race. “It’s easier said than done, keeping these horses happy and healthy. It’s the same with all horses, but, obviously, our long-term plan is, hopefully, live the dream of being at Churchill in May. But that’s a ways out. I won’t say anything. Let the horse tell us. We’re not going to force anything.”

David Cohen, Oaklawn leading jockey in 2019, has ridden Keep me in mind three times, including his victory in the Kentucky Jockey Club.

Keep me in mind “came back really good out of his race and is doing well at Win Star,” Diodoro said, “so we’ll just play it by ear.”

He also trains Dreamer’s Disease, sixth-place finisher in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile, and scheduled to arrive at Oaklawn in early January. Also by Laoban, Dreamer’s Disease capped his 2- year- old season with a seventh-place finish as heavy favorite in the $250,000 New York Stallion Series Dec. 6 at Aqueduct after stumbling badly at the start.

Remington: Senor Buscador, the Springboard Mile winner at Remington Park, is both ahead of the game and slightly behind. Unbeaten in two starts in Oklahoma, the Mineshaft colt showed a strong stretch kick when coming from 12 lengths off the lead to win by almost seven lengths Friday night. Veteran jockey Luis Quinonez sang his praise, saying “He can go farther, too.”

Now, can he do it without Lasix?

Horses running on the anti- bleeder medication were ineligible for Kentucky Derby qualifying points. The only points distributed were four to second-place finisher Cowan. Since all the Triple Crown races this year will be Lasix-free, Churchill Downs added a rule this season saying no horse on the medication will be allowed to score points in designated preps. The Springboard Mile offered 17 points to the top four finishers on a 10-4-2-1 basis.

“Definitely he will be coming off Lasix if he’s going on the Derby trail,” winning trainer Todd Fincher said in a text message to Louisville-based website Horse Racing Nation. “The Fair Grounds is probably the next stop if all is well with the horse.”

Despite a slow start, Senor Buscador went the mile in 1: 37.87. “He broke bad, but he settled right in behind there,” Quinonez said. “When I started picking up and running through them, I thought oh, my God, what a horse I’ve got here. He came up strong in the lane.”