Book’em Danno stretches to get to the wire first in the Woody Stephens. (Susie Raisher)
After Astounding Victory in G1 Woody Stephens
Belmont Stakes Racing Festival Notes
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Atlantic Six Racing’s Book’em Danno showed an affinity for the Saratoga main track thanks to his half-length victory over Prince of Monaco in the seven-furlong Grade 1, $500,000 Woody Stephens presented by Mohegan Sun on Saturday. After an impressive effort on the track, veteran trainer Derek Ryan said they are looking to follow the blueprint for success and target the seven-furlong Grade 1, half-million-dollar H. Allen Jerkens Memorial on Travers Day, August 24, at the Spa.
The New Jersey-bred Bucchero gelding started his sophomore campaign with a 12 1/2-length romp in the seven-furlong Pasco in January at Tampa Bay Downs. That inspired Ryan to ship him overseas for a spot in the one-mile Group 3 Saudi Derby at King Abdulaziz Racecourse, where he gamely competed before then unbeaten Japanese star Forever Young pulled ahead in the final jumps to win by a head in the $1.5-million contest.
Back stateside, Book’em Danno earned a 100 Beyer Speed Figure for his off-the-pace performance that allowed him to demonstrate his great closing ability in front of a packed Belmont Stakes Day crowd at Saratoga. He shipped back to Ryan’s base in the Garden State after winning for the fifth time in seven career starts.
“He came out of it great and ate up everything last night and I just put him on the van home,” Ryan said Sunday morning. “Everything is good. For him, seven-to-a-mile, that’s his thing. He’s just a good horse. A good horse, you can run them different distances, and it doesn’t really matter.”
Book’em Danno started his career with three consecutive wins, following his debut win in August at Monmouth Park with a stakes win in the Smoke Glacken one month later on the same track. In his New York bow, he won the Listed Futurity in October at Aqueduct Racetrack and ran second, three-quarters of a length back to Where’s Chris, in the Listed Nashua in November at the Big A to cap his juvenile campaign.
“If you look closer, I still think he could have been 7-for-7, I know it’s easy to say now, but he ended up on the lead at Aqueduct [in the Nashua] with a small field [five horses], and that’s not his style,” Ryan said. “Consistency-wise, I think he’s probably the best 3-year-old in the country.”
Book’em Danno put himself in the company of top-flight 3-year-olds, with Dornoch’s win in the Grade 1, $2 million Belmont Stakes presented by NYRA Bets marking the third different winner of the Triple Crown races this year. Another strong Saratoga effort could make things interesting in the quest for divisional supremacy, depending how the second half of the campaign shakes up.
“The main plan now is the Allen Jerkens. We might do something silly in between, but who knows?” Ryan said, with a laugh.
For Ryan, who won his first race as a trainer in 1996, the victory in the 40th running of the Woody Stephens [and first ever contested at Saratoga] marked the first Grade 1 win of a career that has encompassed 5,456 entries and 730 victories overall.
“Yeah, it’s great. I’m glad I did it,” Ryan said. “I think I’ve been second in a bunch of them. This is sweet.”
