Travers: Keepmeinmind takes on Essential Quality a sixth time
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - Keepmeinmind has faced Essential Quality in five of his 10 career starts. He has finished behind him all five times.
Undeterred, trainer Robertino Diodoro is sending Keepmeinmind against Essential Quality yet again in Saturday’s Grade 1, $1.25 million Travers at Saratoga.
Keepmeinmind on Wednesday was one of six horses entered against Essential Quality, who drew post 2 and was installed as the 4-5 morning-line Travers favorite by New York Racing Association linemaker David Aragona. The Travers is race 12 on a 13-race card that begins at 11:35 a.m.
Keepmeinmind came within a half-length of Essential Quality in the Grade 2 Jim Dandy here on July 31. That was the closest he’s come to Essential Quality, a horse he faced twice in Grade 1 stakes at 2 and in both the Blue Grass and Kentucky Derby this year.
Diodoro points to several tangibles he feels could help Keepmeinmind finally get the best of Essential Quality. First, Diodoro likes the 1 1/4 miles for Keepmeinmind, who had a troubled trip when finishing 8 1/2 lengths behind Essential Quality in the Kentucky Derby. Second, this will be the second time jockey Joel Rosario rides Keepmeinmind.
In the Jim Dandy, Keepmeindmind got a bit keen on Rosario early in the race and he had to work to settle him. Ultimately, Keepmeinmind got through on the inside while Essential Quality rallied five wide and still beat him.
“I know a couple of people say he got the perfect trip in the Jim Dandy and it was his one chance to beat Essential Quality,” Diodoro said. “I disagree with that. Going into the first turn he was little bit rank on Joel. Joel had to take a hold of him a couple of times.
“Even around the far turn . . . he had to hesitate a couple of times and he did get through. Down the lane he was on the inside but he definitely didn’t have a perfect trip.”
Diodoro said that Rosario told him after the Jim Dandy he felt there were a couple of things he could do differently the next time he rides him.
“He was just pulling a little bit at the beginning,” Rosario said. “If he could have settled a little bit better that probably would have been better. He was okay being on the inside, he was handling it pretty well, but probably being on the outside would be a little bit better.”
Keepmeinmind, the co-third choice at 6-1 along with Dynamic One, will break from post 3.
Diodoro took blinkers off Keepmeinmind for the two Triple Crown races, but put them back on for the Ohio Derby and Jim Dandy and he broke from the gate better each time. He finished third, beaten a half-length by Masqueparade in the Ohio Derby and then second in the Jim Dandy. Diodoro has also tried to slow the horse down in his morning gallops leading up to the race.
Essential Quality, a winner of 7 of 8 starts - a fourth in the Kentucky Derby is his only defeat - is a well-deserved odds-on choice for the Travers. Trainer Brad Cox said his goal was to have Essential Quality peaking for this race and at the post draw Wednesday morning, he indicated that he believes he’s done that.
“From a mental and physical standpoint, I feel like he’s right where we want him,” Cox said. “I’d be content if they’d line them up and run it in 30 minutes.”
Midnight Bourbon, the Preakness runner-up, drew the rail and figures to be a pace factor under Ricardo Santana Jr. Outside of Essential Quality and Keepmeinmind, in post order, are Dynamic One, Miles D, Masqueparade, and King Fury.