HOT SPRINGS -- A new season will start with a new level of achievement for trainer Robertino Diodoro.
He will begin the 2021 season at Oaklawn on Friday as the track's defending champion trainer. He won his first title in 2020 during his fifth full season at Oaklawn Racing Casino Resort.
The success of his horses at Oaklawn last winter and spring drew the admiration of active horsemen everywhere, but a new sort of attention came his way in the summer and fall. It was brought to his barn by a colt named Keepmeinmind, a son of Laoban by Uncle Mo, one of several horses now in their 3-year-old campaigns and with potential to turn the heads of horse-racing fans everywhere.
Keepmeinmind -- a late-running maternal grandson of Victory Gallop, winner of Oaklawn's 1998 Arkansas Derby -- will make his first start at Oaklawn off finishes of second in the Grade I Breeders' Futurity Stakes at Keeneland; third in the Grade I Breeders' Cup at Keeneland; and first in the Grade II Kentucky Jockey Club Stakes at Churchill Downs.
Each of Keepmeinmind's graded-stakes attempts earned Kentucky Derby qualifying points, enough in total to put him at No. 2 on the current points list. The top 20 points-earners through April 10 will qualify for a stall in the 20-horse Kentucky Derby starting gate May 1.
Keepmeinmind is expected to resume racing in Oaklawn's Grade III Southwest Stakes on Feb. 15.
"Nothing's for sure," Diodoro said. "Right now, that's the rough plan, the tentative plan."
Diodoro was born and raised in Canada, a son and grandson of horsemen. From such a collective of equine wisdom, he hesitates to put the cart before the colt.
"We're pretty excited, but we're taking it one day at a time," Diodoro said. "The main thing now is keeping the horse happy and healthy. If we can do that, I think we'll be in business come springtime. That's my job and our team's job right now. We just have to keep him moving forward."
Regular Oaklawn jockey David Cohen has ridden three of Keepmeinmind's four starts, including his second-place finish in his first career start at Churchill on Sept. 2.
Diodoro said Keepmeinmind made no particular impression when the colt was brought to him in February.
"He was a good-looking horse, but he was just kind of a big baby," Diodoro said. "Once we got him going, you could see he was a good horse, but I wouldn't say the first couple of weeks I ever said, 'Wow.' He wasn't that type of horse."
By summertime, things had changed.
Cohen said he could feel Keepmeinmind's potential from the start.
"He always seemed like a horse that had a ton of talent," Cohen said. "When we made that first start at a mile -- which is very hard the first time out -- we came out of the 1o-hole, and he made it down to the rail, squeezed through a tight spot, had a tough time for a first start, but he showed a lot of heart. For me, it was that effort, and after his next workout, after that first race, I believe it was then that I told Robertino that this is our Derby horse."
By then, Diodoro also understood.
"Before his first race, he really started getting all of our attention," he said.
Oaklawn's introduction to potential Kentucky Derby entrants will come with the 1-mile Smarty Jones Stakes on Friday, the opening day for the 2021 season. Seven horses are entered.
Though Keepmeinmind will wait for his 3-year-old debut, Oaklawn President Louis Cella said his potential and that of other 3-year-old horses in Oaklawn's barns excites him.
"It's this way every year," Cella said. "Frankly, this is what it's about. For everyone in racing, their goal is the Kentucky Derby."
Perhaps Diodoro will get assistance from Keepmeinmind in his attempt to repeat as Oaklawn's training champion, an achievement that leads his list of desires.
"We all want to do it," Diodoro said. "That's what we're here for, but it's not going to be easy. We just want to win as many races as we can and have a consistently solid meet, but I'm not going to lie. We're here for one reason."
Diodoro said his Oaklawn title from last season was among his most meaningful achievements. He trained horses to 52 wins last season, three more than second-place Steve Asmussen, winner of the previous four training championships and 10 since his first in 2007.
Cohen said he was also pleased for Diodoro.
"I was very happy," Cohen said. "He puts a lot of effort into the meet, and any time you beat Steve Asmussen for a title -- especially at a place where he's dominated for so many years -- it was very nice to see him get that championship."
Opening day
WHEN Friday, first post at 12:30 p.m.
WHERE Oaklawn Racing Casino Resort, Hot Springs
RACING CARD Nine races, including the $150,000 Smarty Jones Stakes for 3-year-olds
