50 Wins at Oaklawn for Meet Leader Diodoro

According to Oaklawn Park publicity, Robertino Diodoro became the fourth trainer in that track's history with 50 meet victories when Freedom Hill ($7.40) won second race April 23 under defending riding champion David Cohen.

The meet's leading trainer is averaging roughly a win per day during the 57-day season that is scheduled to end May 2. 

“It’s a great achievement,” Diodoro said during training hours April 24. “But, again, I’m one person and you’ve got to have a great team behind you—owners, help in the barn. It’s been a good run. We’ve just got to, hopefully, finish up strong the next six days.”

David Vance became the first trainer in Oaklawn history to reach 50 victories when he won 50 races during the 50-day meeting in 1974. The late Cole Norman set a single-season Oaklawn record with 71 victories during the 49-day season in 2003. Hall of Fame trainer Steve Asmussen won 64 races during last year’s 57-day season.

The Canadian-born Diodoro has eclipsed his victory total every year since he began wintering in Hot Springs in 2015. He won nine races in 2015, 22 races in 2016, 31 races in 2017, 32 races in 2018, and 48 races last year, per Oaklawn publicity. Diodoro was Oaklawn’s second-leading trainer the last three years, but he entered Friday with a sizable lead over Asmussen (50-41), who is seeking his fifth consecutive local training title and record-tying 11th overall (all since 2007). 

Entering Friday, Diodoro had also set single-season personal Oaklawn bests for stakes victories (three) and purse earnings ($1,941,297). His purse earnings have also climbed each year.

Freedom Hill is owned by Diodoro’s main client, M and M Racing of Mike and Mickala Sisk, who won a single-season Oaklawn record 61 races last year. M and M topped the owner’s standings through Thursday with 27 victories and $949,177 in purse earnings. 

Large Field Expected for May 1 Fantasy

The Oaklawn racing department expects a sizable field for May 1 Fantasy Stakes (G3) for 3-year-old fillies when entries are taken and post positions are drawn April 24. The race is limited to 14 starters with starting preference given to horses with the highest earnings.

Expected entrants (with trainers) are Alta's Award (Steve Asmussen), Antoinette (Bill Mott), British Idiom (Brad Cox), Gingham (Bob Baffert), Harvey's Lil Goil (Mott), Ice Princess (Danny Gargan), Kansas Kis (Ray Handal), Lake Avenue (Mott), Lazy Daisy (Doug O’Neill), Naughty Thoughts (Jonathan Maldonado), Ring Leader (Mac Robertson), Shedaresthedevil (Cox), Swiss Skydiver (Kenny McPeek), Tempers Rising (Dallas Stewart) and Venetian Harbor (Richard Baltas).

British Idiom, the champion 2-year-old filly who ran second in the Rachel Alexandra Stakes Presented by Fasig-Tipton (G2) at Fair Grounds Race Course & Slots in her only race at 3, is one of the expected favorites, along with Venetian Harbor, the runaway winner of the Las Virgenes Stakes (G2) Feb. 8 at Santa Anita Park.

The Fantasy will offer 170 points (100-40-20-10) to the top four finishers toward starting eligibility for the Longines Kentucky Oaks (G1), which has been postponed until Sept. 4. Oaklawn responded by moving the Fantasy from April 10 to May 1.

Because of an expected rush at the entry box for the Fantasy, Oaklawn added an overnight stake, the $80,000 Gardenia Stakes, for 3-year-old fillies May 1. The Gardenia, also 1 1/16 miles, drew 53 nominees, including the unbeaten Ain't No Elmers for trainer Bret Calhoun.

The Godfather Part II

First-out maiden winner Don Vito Corleone is scheduled to make his second career start in a May 2 entry-level allowance race around two turns, trainer Rick Hiles said.

A son of champion Midshipman , the 4-year-old was a 1 1/4-length winner of his April 4 race at 1 1/16 miles under Martin Garcia. Bred by the University of Kentucky, the gelding shares the same name as the fictional character played by screen legend Marlon Brando in the 1972 classic crime film, “The Godfather.”

Don Vito Corleone—the horse—ruled in his debut, at odds of 25-1.

"I’m sure because of his name, people will start catching on to him," said Hiles. "I’ve had a couple of people ask me about it, about The Godfather. I had a filly a few years ago called Sugar Cube that I won 10 or 11 races with. She got to be a household name in Kentucky. Everybody kept asking, ‘How’s Sugar Cube? How’s Sugar Cube? If he keeps going like he is, he may become one, too.”

Don Vito Corleone is the second winner from the Aldebaran mare Miss Hissy Fit and races for owners E. McCarroll Holdings and Syliva Norris. E. McCarroll Holdings bought him as a short yearling as the 2017 Fasig-Tipton Kentucky Winter Mixed Sale for $6,500 from the Maine Chance Farm consignment. 

Hiles said he received Don Vito Corleone last June and planned to debut the gelding at Ellis Park before he was found to a “little off” in a rear leg. A nuclear scan, Hiles said, revealed a small stress fracture in the tibia and Don Vito Corleone was turned out for four months.

“He was a colt last summer and they gelded him while he was off those four months,” said Hiles, the longtime president of the Kentucky Horsemen’s Benevolent and Protective Association. “He wasn’t bad. You’ve got to be a really good horse to go to stud anymore. He’s a gelding now and he can enjoy himself the rest of his life."