Diodoro chose horse racing over hockey, begins Derby push in Rebel

HOT SPRINGS, Ark. –Trainer Robertino Diodoro found himself at a crossroads in his early 20s. He could make the final push needed for a career in hockey after being a goalie since the age of 6 or he could turn to the other sport he grew up in, horse racing.

Diodoro at that point had dedicated most of his life to both, making the year-round commitments hockey requires of athletes one step from the pros, while working alongside his family at the tracks on the circuit in his native Alberta, Canada.

“As I got more serious about horse racing, that was the same time I was supposed to get more serious about hockey,” Diodoro said. “And I think the hockey started suffering because my head was into horse racing. So, I still loved hockey, thought I could do both, but I really couldn’t. It takes 100 percent dedication, just like most things, including racing.”

Diodoro threw himself into racing and at the age of 46 the Calgary native has his first Kentucky Derby prospect in Keepmeinmind. The horse won last year’s Kentucky Jockey Club Stakes at Churchill Downs and will launch his 3-year-old season Saturday in the Grade 2, $1 million Rebel Stakes at Oaklawn Park.

“It’s pretty exciting for everyone, including assistants I’ve had for quite a few years and owners I’ve had for a long time,” Diodoro said. “They’re all real supportive. Even a lot of friends and people I still communicate with in Canada are texting me. They’re following the horse. It’s definitely a horse we’ve been looking to get in my barn for a while.”

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Diodoro’s grandfather, Jim Dorman, based his stable at Northlands Park in Edmonton and Stampede Park in Calgary. Neither track is still in operation, replaced by newer facilities.

“He always trained a few horses, never more than two, three horses,” Diodoro said. “My dad always helped him. My mom worked in mutuels.”

At times, the family would venture to Trout Springs, a track outside of Calgary.

“A lot of memories there,” Diodoro said. “I worked on the gate out there, was a valet, just to make money. This is when I was 17 or 18. And I started training out there, kind of started from there.”

Diodoro’s first win came at Northlands in 1995. He would eventually account for four runnings of the track’s premier race, the Grade 3 Canadian Derby, and twice was the leading trainer in the province of Alberta.

Diodoro migrated south and for each of the past five years has ranked among the top five winningest trainers in North America. He made a special return to Alberta in 2018 with Sky Promise, the first horse to capture the Canadian, Manitoba, and British Columbia derbies. Sky Promise earned the Sovereign Award as Canada’s outstanding 3-year-old colt of 2018.

Randy Howg, an owner of 2013 Canadian Derby winner Broadway Empire and 2017 Oaklawn Handicap winner Inside Straight, has been there every step with Diodoro. The trainer has won more than 2,640 races in his career, for stable earnings of $46.7 million.

“We’ve won a lot of stakes together,” Howg said. “When I gave him my first horse, he was actually a groom for another trainer, in 1995. I’ve been with him ever since, never been without a horse.

“He’s just like a son to me. We’ve been together through thick and thin. He’s been very, very honest, and that’s what I like about him. Not too many can say they’ve been with the same trainer 25-plus years.”

It was Howg who helped Diodoro get a foothold in the United States at Turf Paradise in Arizona.

“He phoned and says, ‘Can you check and see if you can get some stalls for me while you’re down there,’ ” Howg recalled. “At that point in Arizona, it was hard getting stalls. Everything was filled up. I said, ‘Take a picture of your shed row, send me the picture, and I’ll have stalls for you with the snap of a finger.’ That’s what he’s famous for. Some people even call him Mr. Clean!”

Diodoro eventually won five consecutive titles at Turf Paradise. He branched out to Southern California, then after winning the Oklahoma Derby in 2013 with Broadway Empire, began to focus more on the Midwest. Diodoro set up a division at Oaklawn and last year won the title while one of his major clients, M and M Racing, secured its third straight owner championship. Jockey David Cohen, who won the Oaklawn title in 2019, has been a regular aboard Diodoro’s horses at Oaklawn, Churchill Downs, and Saratoga. He is the rider of Keepmeinmind.

“I was extremely blessed to come back off my injuries, return to racing, and be able to have his support right off the bat,” Cohen said. “And he’s never wavered from it the past three-plus years we’ve been together since my return.

“I’m very happy for him to get this opportunity to show he’s very capable of getting a 2-year-old primed and ready and getting him on the Derby trail.”

Keepmeinmind finished second in last year’s Breeders’ Futurity and third in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile, both behind eventual champion Essential Quality. The horse closed out the season by winning his maiden in the Kentucky Jockey Club. Spendthrift Farm later bought into the horse, who also races for Cypress Creek LLC and Arnold Bennewith.

When Keepmeinmind begins his march to the Kentucky Derby in the Rebel, it will feel just like game day for Diodoro.

“The competitiveness in hockey carried over quite easily to horse racing,” he said.