Blue Grass beckons for Diodoro Derby prospect
Keepmeinmind has done his best running in Kentucky and, after one dismal race at Oaklawn, that’s where the Kentucky Derby prospect is making his next start.
Barring a last-minute change of plans, the Grade 2 winner at Churchill Downs goes in Saturday’s running of the Grade 2 $800,000 Blue Grass on opening weekend at Keeneland. Even if that means another date with unbeaten champion Essential Quality, who beat Keepmeinmind in two Grade 1 races at Keeneland last fall and won his seasonal debut in Oaklawn’s Grade 3 Southwest Feb. 27.
His return race delayed when winter weather forced two postponements of the
Southwest and his trainer chose not to ship to New Orleans for the Grade 2 Risen Star at Fair Grounds, Keepmeinmind ran sixth in Oaklawn’s Grade 2 Rebel March 13.
Robertino Diodoro, handling his first Derby hopeful, made Blue Grass plans after the Laoban colt worked here Saturday, clocking five eighths in 1:00. He was thought to be pointing to the Grade 1 $1 million Arkansas Derby April 10.
“We’re going to go,” he said Monday in a story reported by Mary Rampellini of Daily Racing Form. “We know he ran well over the track there.”
Eight are expected for the nine-furlong Blue Grass when entries are drawn today.
Oaklawn Fantasy winner Swiss Skydiver placed second in last year’s Blue Grass, won by Art Collector when the race was moved to July because of the coronavirus pandemic, and later beat males in the Preakness.
Keepmeinmind’s closing style worked against him in the Rebel when Concert Tour, despite breaking from an outside post, made a clear early lead and prevailed by 4 1/4 lengths
Keepmeinmind, with 18 qualifying points from two races last year, needs a points infusion to make the expected 20-horse Kentucky Derby field. In updated standings Saturday, the Diodoro colt is listed 20th. Known Agenda (Florida Derby) and Rebel’s Romance (UAE Derby) gained top-five status with 100-point victories.
Saturday’s other major races, all with a 100-40-20-10 breakdown, are the Grade 1 Santa Anita Derby in California and the Grade 2 Wood Memorial in New York. The Arkansas Derby, another 100-pointer, and Keeneland’s Lexington (20-8-4-2), also April 10, are the last qualifiers for Kentucky Derby 147 May 1 at Churchill Downs.
Concert Tour and Hozier, one-two in the Rebel, are trainer Bob Baffert’s only nominees for a fourth Arkansas Derby crown, Southwest runner-up Spielberg throwing in a Florida Derby clinker. Stakes-winning
Medina Spirit and recent maiden winner Defunded carry the trainer’s banners in the Santa Anita Derby, which Baffert has won a record nine times.
Concert Tour worked five furlongs Saturday at Santa Anita in 1:00 4-5.
Baffert won both divisions of the Arkansas Derby last year, Rebel winner Nadal’s number staying up while Charlatan was subsequently disqualified for a drug violation. Baffert won the Oaklawn race in 2012 with Bodemeister (Kentucky Derby and Preakness runner-up) and in 2015 with Triple Crown winner American Pharoah. The Hall of Famer tied Ben Jones’ record of six Kentucky Derby triumphs last year with Authentic, whose subsequent Breeders’ Cup Classic victory made him Horse of the Year.
At Oaklawn Saturday, Arkansas Derby hopeful Caddo River worked five furlongs in 1:00 in company with stablemate Joe Frazier, getting six furlongs in
1:13 and seven furlongs in 1:27.60. Brad Cox, besides conditioning Essential Quality for Godolphin Stable, trains Caddo River for owner-breeder John Ed Anthony of Hot Springs. The Hard Spun colt won the Smarty Jones mile by a record
10 1/4 lengths Jan. 22 but folded in the stretch when attempting to pressure Concert Tour in the Rebel, which marked his twoturn debut.
With only 10 Kentucky Derby qualifying points, Caddo River needs a first or second in the Arkansas Derby to run for the roses. Anthony has won the Oaklawn race three times, also winning the Preakness twice and the Belmont Stakes once. His best Kentucky Derby finish came with the ill-fated Prairie Bayou (second in 1993). Following Arkansas Derby winner Pine Bluff’s victory the previous year, Prairie Bayou gave the Hot Springs lumberman a Preakness repeat before suffering a fatal injury in the Belmont.
Including 13 for Hall of Famer trainer Steve Asmussen, 100 horses nominated for the Arkansas Derby before Thursday’s deadline. Asmussen’s main Kentucky Derby hopeful is Midnight Bourbon, sixth with 66 points from Louisiana preps. Big Lake, third in the Rebel, is off the Derby trail because of injury and two-time Grade 1 winner Jackie’s Warrior, beaten by Essential Quality in the Rebel, has dropped out of contention.
A career winner of more than 9,000 races, Asmussen is
0-for-21 in the Kentucky Derby. He has three Arkansas Derby winners: Private Emblem
(2002), Curlin (2007) and Creator (2016). Curlin won the Preakness, as did the filly Rachel Alexandra (in her first start for Asmussen) in 2009, and Cre