Robertino Diodoro | Horse Racing Free Tips

Juvenile: Maiden Keepmeinmind Deserves A Shot After Runner-Up Finish In Breeders’ Futurity

Later Friday morning at Keeneland, Southern Equine Stables' Keepmeinmind, runner-up in the Claiborne Breeders' Futurity (G1), and stablemate Dreamer's Disease, an easy allowance winner on Oct. 3, drilled 5 furlongs in company in preparation for possible starts in the $2 million TVG Breeders' Cup Juvenile (G1) Presented by Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance on Nov. 6.

With trainer Robertino Diodoro watching trackside, Keepmeinmind with David Cohen aboard broke off 3 lengths behind Dreamer's Disease and Adam Beschizza. At the wire, the difference was a length with Keepmeinmind credited with a :58.20 clocking and Dreamer's Disease in :58.60. The duo galloped out 6 furlongs in 1:11.40.

Diodoro believes Keepmeinmind deserves a shot at the Breeders' Cup even though the son of Laoban is a maiden after two starts. His resume going into the Breeders' Cup is similar to Good Magic, who won the 2017 Juvenile and earned the Eclipse Award as champion 2-year-old male.

“In the Breeders' Futurity, he got in some traffic on the turn but then David (Cohen) tipped him to the outside and he came on again,” Diodoro said about Keepmeinmind. “I may have different thoughts if he had had the perfect trip, but there are two factors here: one, the trouble he had in the last race, and two, the way he has been training.”

Today's work came on the heels of a :49.20 half-mile on Oct. 17. Keepmeinmind is scheduled to have his final pre-Breeders' Cup work Oct. 30.

Diodoro said if Dreamer's Disease, another Southern Equine homebred by Laoban, does not get in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile field, he would pass on running the colt in the $100,000 Nyquist at 6½ furlongs here on the Nov. 6 Breeders' Cup undercard and likely wait for a race at Churchill Downs that month.

The post Juvenile: Maiden Keepmeinmind Deserves A Shot After Runner-Up Finish In Breeders’ Futurity appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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Keeneland: Perfect 3-For-3 Day for Diodoro, M & M Racing, Cohen

M & M Racing of Mike Sisk zoomed to the top of the Keeneland owner standings Friday with three winners from three starters at the Lexington, Ky., track. All were ridden by David Cohen and trained by Robertino Diodoro.

“There was a lot of texting going on yesterday afternoon,” Diodoro said. “I think he was in Dallas. He hasn't been in the game long, but we need more owners like him.”

Sisk, in 2009 founded Low T Centers that provide diagnosis and treatment for men with low testosterone and other health issues. The company has upwards of 50 clinics in a dozen states. He operates M & M Racing with his wife, MIckala. Former trainer Cody Autrey is the stable's racing manager.

Friday rivaled the day that Godolphin and trainer Kiaran McLaughlin had April 15, 2017, here when they won with all four entrants, including Dickinson in the Coolmore Jenny Wiley (G1) and Watershed in the Ben Ali (G3).

“I don't think I have gone three-for-three for the same owner in one day,” Diodoro said. “And definitely not at Keeneland, and that's the most important thing.”

Nomizar started the day with a 10 3/4-length romp in the second race at odds of 3-1. New Mexico-bred Ghostly Who won the fourth race by 7 1/2 lengths at odds of 6-1, and Strike That took the eighth race by a head at 6-1.

Diodoro, whose main base of operations was Turf Paradise for 10 years before he relocated to Oaklawn Park, is a relative newcomer to the Kentucky circuit.

“A year or two ago, I tried to get more involved,” said Diodoro, who has ranked third in wins in North America the past two years. “You can't beat the facilities here, at Churchill and at Ellis and the purses are good.”

Diodoro began training in 1995 and has amassed more than 2,500 wins. However, things really began to take off in 2014 with Diodoro averaging more than 230 victories a year with a 23-26 percent win rate.

“I'm only one person,” Diodoro said. “I've got good owners and they are good guys and I've got good help with guys that have been with me for a while.”

Among the horses Diodoro has here is Southern Equine Stable's Keepmeinmind, runner-up in last Saturday's Claiborne Breeders' Futurity (G1) who is pointing toward the $2 million Breeders' Cup Juvenile (G1) Presented by Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance.

“He is doing well,” said Diodoro, whose previous Breeders' Cup starter was Grade 3 winner Broadway Empire, who finished ninth in the Dirt Mile (G1) in 2013. “(Keepmeinmind) will work next weekend, but for now we are taking it day by day.”

During his banner day on Friday, Diodoro had two other runners for Heads Up Racing finish third in two races behind his runners. For the meet, he is 100 percent in the money with a 9-4-2-3 mark.

His 10th starter, Blacktop Legend, comes in this afternoon's fourth race.

“He is in a little deep,” Diodoro said. “It is his first time for us.”

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Diodoro has Third Winner This Week DQ’d for Drug Positive

For the third time as many days this week, the nation’s third-leading trainer by wins for 2020 has been fined and had a winner disqualified for a Class 4 drug positive.

According to a Sept. 2 ruling issued by the Oklahoma Horse Racing Commission, the Robertino Diodoro-trained Erebuni (Ministers Wild Cat) came up positive for dexamethasone in post-race serum testing after winning the 10th race at Will Rogers Downs May 4. The race was a $5,000 NW4L claimer in which the mare was favored at 19-10 odds.

Dexamethasone is an anti-inflammatory listed as a Class 4/Penalty Category C prohibited substance on the Association of Racing Commissioners International’s uniform classification guidelines for foreign substances.

According to the ruling, Diodoro declined the opportunity to have a split sample tested, waived his right to a hearing, and pled “no contest.”

In addition to owner Empire Racing Stables, LLC, (Jason Bullard) losing the $4,614 winning purse for Erebuni’s DQ, Diodoro was fined $1,000.

Erebuni has started and lost three consecutive races since that May 4 win, shipping most recently to Evangeline Downs in Louisiana. But the ruling states that the mare must now work out and be examined by a commission veterinarian (at the owner and/or trainer’s expense) before being allowed to race again.

On Aug. 31, Diodoro had two winners and a fifth-place horse disqualified from Oaklawn Park races via rulings that cited prohibited use of two different Class 4 substances. Diodoro was separately fined $3,500 for failing to meet the “absolute insurer” requirements of a trainer licensed by the Arkansas State Racing Commission.

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Diodoro Fined $3,500, Horses Disqualified For Drug Positives

Robertino Diodoro, North America's third-leading trainer by wins in 2020, was handed a $3,500 fine and had three horses disqualified from previous races at Oaklawn Park on Monday after they tested positive for Class 4 substances, Thoroughbred Daily News reports.

The punishment entailed four separate rulings, with one each disqualifying the offending horses and the fourth issuing the fine for failing to meet the Arkansas State Racing Commission's “absolute insurer” guidelines for trainers.

Two of the horses tested positive for triamcinolone acetonide, typically used to treat arthritis. Adheretome was taken down from first in a March 19 claiming race at Oaklawn Park after the substance was found in a post-race test, while Weekend Madness was disqualified from fifth after testing positive following a March 1 maiden claimer.

Moment was disqualified from first in an April 3 waver claiming race after testing positive for the relaxant methocarbamol, which can treat exercise-induced muscle soreness.

Diodoro did not immediately indicate to the TDN whether he would appeal the rulings.

Diodoro finished the 2020 Oaklawn Park meet as the track's leading trainer with 52 wins, ahead of Steve Asmussen with 49. If the disqualifications are not appealed successfully, Diodoro's win total would only decrease by one, by virtue of also having the runner-up in Moment's April 3 victory.