By Margaret Ransom
The 152nd Travers Stakes, the Mid-Summer Derby, is Saturday, Aug. 28, at Saratoga Race Course. The top race of the summer for 3-year-olds is contested at 1¼ miles with a purse of $1.25 million. In the days leading up to the race, usracing.com will publish profiles of the contenders. Profiles will be updated with post position, odds, and jockey following the draw now set for Wednesday, Aug. 25.
2021 Travers Stakes Profile: Keepmeinmind
By Margaret Ransom
Keepmeinmind had a tremendous juvenile season, breaking his maiden in the Kentucky Jockey Club Stakes (G2) at Churchill Downs after a second in the Breeders’ Futurity (G1) and third in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile (G1).
Keepmeinmind and Churchill Downs – Photo Courtesy of Coady Photography
It has taken the son of Laoban a little bit to get rolling this year, but his last race – a troubled performance to finish second behind champion Essential Quality in the Jim Dandy (G2) – was impressive and could be good enough here to claim a win.
He was bred in Kentucky by his late sire Laoban’s owner/breeder Southern Equine Stables and was purchased privately by his current connections. Keepmeinmind is a large horse with no early speed, which is why he does his best running late.
Keepmeinmind has been training exceptionally well over Saratoga’s main track all meet including a half-mile in 47.55 seconds Saturday morning (Aug. 21) under exercise rider Dennis Means.
“He went very good,” trainer Robertino Diodoro said. “He was doing it nice and easy all on his own and with a strong gallop out once again. Touch wood, everything is on schedule. This was easy as could be and I thought Dennis did a good job because he’s not an easy horse to slow down.”
“He needs to have his game face on for game day and be ready to run the race of his life.”
2021 Travers Stakes Entries: Keepmeinmind
Post position: TBD
Odds: TBD
Trainer: Robertino Diodoro
Jockey: Joel Rosario
Owner: Cypress Creek Equine (Kevin Moody), Arnold Bennewith &
Spendthrift Farm
Career record: 10-1-3-2
Career earnings: $654,987
Top Equibase speed figure: 106
Pedigree: Laoban-Inclination, by Victory Gallop
Color: Bay
Running style: Closer
Notes: Keepmeinmind was named after a song by the Zac Brown Band … Diodoro, a 47-year-old native of Calgary, Alberta, Canada, has about 2,750 victories since hanging his shingle in 1995, including nine in graded stakes … Keepmeinmind was Diodoro’s first Kentucky Derby runner and will be his first Travers starter… The ownership group for this colt – Moody, Bennewith and the late B. Wayne Hughes’ Spendthrift Farm – have yet to be represented by a Travers Stakes winner… Laoban, who died at age 8 at WinStar Farm in May, raced nine times with a single win coming in the 2016 Jim Dandy at Saratoga.
2021 Travers Stakes Odds
| PP | Horse | Odds | Jockey | Trainer |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Midnight Bourbon | 9-2 | Ricardo Santa Ana Jr. | Steve Asmussen |
| 2 | Essential Quality | 4-5 | Luis Saez | Brad Cox |
| 3 | Keepmeinmind | 6-1 | Joel Rosario | Robertino Diodoro |
| 4 | Dynamic One | 6-1 | Irad Ortiz Jr | Todd Pletcher |
| 5 | Miles D | 12-1 | Flavien Prat | Chad Brown |
| 6 | Masqueparade | 8-1 | Miguel Mena | Albert M.Stall Jr |
| 7 | King Fury | 15-1 | Jose Ortiz | Kenneth McPeek |
California native and lifelong horsewoman Margaret Ransom is a graduate of the University of Arizona’s Race Track Industry Program. She got her start in racing working in the publicity departments at Calder Race Course and Hialeah Park, as well as in the racing office at Gulfstream Park in South Florida. She then spent six years in Lexington, KY, at BRISnet.com, where she helped create and develop the company’s popular newsletters: Handicapper’s Edge and Bloodstock Journal.After returning to California, she served six years as the Southern California news correspondent for BloodHorse, assisted in the publicity department at Santa Anita Park and was a contributor to many other racing publications, including HorsePlayer Magazine and Trainer Magazine. She then spent seven years at HRTV and HRTV.com in various roles as researcher, programming assistant, producer and social media and marketing manager.
She has also walked hots and groomed runners, worked the elite sales in Kentucky for top-class consignors and volunteers for several racehorse retirement organizations, including CARMA.In 2016, Margaret was the recipient of the prestigious Stanley Bergstein Writing Award, sponsored by Team Valor, and was an Eclipse Award honorable mention for her story, “The Shocking Untold Story of Maria Borell,” which appeared on USRacing.com. The article and subsequent stories helped save 43 abandoned and neglected Thoroughbreds in Kentucky and also helped create a new animal welfare law in Kentucky known as the “Borell Law.”Margaret’s very first Breeders’ Cup was at Hollywood Park in 1984 and she has attended more than half of the Breeders’ Cups since. She counts Holy Bull and Arrogate as her favorite horses of all time.She lives in Robinson, Texas, with her longtime beau, Tony. She is the executive director of the 501(c)(3) non-profit horse rescue, The Bridge Sanctuary.