Diodoro hoping Preakness experience not just a one-off

BALTIMORE – With Keepmeinmind, trainer Robertino Diodoro is enjoying his first Triple Crown experience. He doesn’t expect it to be his last.

“I haven’t left here and I’m already itching to get back,” Diodoro said Thursday morning at Pimlico where on Saturday he planned to start Keepmeinmind in the $1 million Preakness.

Diodoro, who made his reputation as a claiming trainer, said he is getting better stock and has 2-year-olds by top sires such as Into Mischief and Medaglia d’Oro that he hopes can get him back on the trail next year.

“We got some that we’re bringing with us to Belmont that were purchased in the sale, some that they bred,” Diodoro said. “We got a few right now at Churchill that look very promising.”

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Diodoro said the expansion of his stable from just a claiming outfit began in February 2020 with Mike Moreno’s Southern Equine Stable, which put some horses in his care. They sold some to other Diodoro clients such as Kevin Moody’s Cypress Creek Equine, which is part-owner of Keepmeinmind. That horse also is partly owned by Spendthrift Farm, which purchased Keepmeinmind’s breeding rights late last year.

“I put it out there with some of our new guys and some of the guys we’ve had for a while that, yeah, we still love the claiming game but we want to get some young horses in the barn and hopefully develop them into Derby horses and stakes horses,” Diodoro said.

Keepmeinmind, a son of Laoban, won the Grade 2 Kentucky Jockey Club as a maiden after a second to Essential Quality in the Breeders’ Futurity and a third to him in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile.

Things have not gone particularly well for Keepmeinmind this year, though Diodoro has not lost faith in his 3-year-old, who finished seventh in the Kentucky Derby after a slow break.

“The horse is much better than what he looks on paper, it’s just that nothing’s gone right,” Diodoro said. “The last five weeks, finally everything’s gone right for this horse.”

Diodoro said he’s taken the time, especially in Baltimore, to listen to some of the trainers who have been here before. One of those trainers is D. Wayne Lukas, a six-time Preakness winner who is here with longshot Ram.

“Lukas said with a $5,000 or $10,000 claimer you can lead them over there, maybe you could miss a little bit, a shoe’s not set right, maybe the horse is a little stiff behind and should have had some chiropractic work,” Diodoro said. “When you come to these dances, one, you gotta have the horse, but you also have to have everything on point. There’s no missing nothing.”