Keepmeinmind gets first winner as Ashcroft Lane scores at Aqueduct

Ashcroft Lane turned a rain-soaked Aqueduct opener into more than a maiden score, giving Keepmeinmind his first winner and offering the kind of evidence breeders want before they commit to a young stallion’s second book. The 6-1 colt went gate-to-wire over a sloppy main track, scoring by 9 3/4 lengths in 1:04.28 for 5 1/2 furlongs and earning $46,750 from the $82,450 purse. Tyson’s Gamble finished second and Timbertop was third.

The race mattered because it was the first real commercial test for Keepmeinmind, not just a line on a stud page. The son of Laoban out of Inclination, by Victory Gallop, stands at Whispering Oaks Farm in Carencro, Louisiana, for a 2026 fee of $2,000 live foal. He entered stud in 2023 with a pedigree and race record that gave breeders a reason to look, and Ashcroft Lane gave them an early runner to study.

Keepmeinmind retired with a record of 2 wins, 3 seconds and 3 thirds from 14 starts, bankrolling $903,237. His résumé included a victory in the Grade 2 Kentucky Jockey Club Stakes, a runner-up finish in the Grade 1 Claiborne Breeders’ Futurity, a third in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile, a second in the Grade 2 Jim Dandy Stakes and a third in the Grade 1 Woodward Stakes. That background made him a plausible value sire; the question was always whether his first crop would turn promise into track performance.

Ashcroft Lane, a March 31, 2024 foal, answered that question first. He is a New York-bred colt out of Dame Time, by Into Mischief, owned by James Politano and Northeast Racing, LLC, and bred by Sequel Stallions New York LLC and James Politano. Dylan Davis rode him for trainer Robert N. Falcone, Jr., and the colt’s debut came as the first foal to race out of Dame Time, who also has a yearling filly named Somebody’s Baby by Fire At Will and was bred to Annapolis for 2026.

For Politano and Northeast Racing, the win provides a useful early-season foothold, especially in New York, where a sharp maiden winner can quickly find other opportunities through the summer and fall. For Keepmeinmind, it gives the marketplace a black-and-white answer: he is no longer just a young sire with a strong page and a modest fee, but one with a winner on the board, and that is where commercial traction begins.