Book’em Danno tough in the Woody Stephens (G1) June 8 at Saratoga (Susie Raisher)
NYRA Press Office
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y.— Atlantic Six Racing’s Book’em Danno, last-out winner of the seven-furlong Grade 1 Woody Stephens presented by Mohegan Sun on June 8 Belmont Stakes Day at Saratoga Race Course, is entered in Friday’s $100,000 Jersey Shore, a six-furlong sprint for sophomores at Monmouth Park. He was also nominated to the 6 1/2-furlong, Grade 2 $200,000 Amsterdam on July 26 at Saratoga, but trainer Derek Ryan confirmed Thursday morning the plan was to stay on the Jersey Shore.
Ryan said the main target is the seven-furlong Grade 1, $500,000 H. Allen Jerkens Memorial on August 24 at the Spa.
“We’re probably going to run him because it is good timing for the Allen Jerkens. I get five weeks from now until then,” said Ryan. “The Allen Jerkens is the main goal. It’s six weeks from our last race and five from here to the Jerkens.
“We don’t have to win this one. We just want to get what I want out of it,” Ryan added.
Book‘em Danno enters from a half-mile bullet in 47 seconds flat on July 11 at Monmouth, fastest-of-49 workers at the distance.
“The last couple of works have been the best he’s ever worked, and he’s been doing it on his own,” Ryan said. “I used to work him in company, I don’t anymore. He’s just doing good right now. With a little luck, he gets it done tomorrow.”
The New Jersey-bred showed his potential on debut, beating fellow state-breds by 9 1/2 lengths sprinting 5 1/2 furlongs in August at Monmouth. He also captured a pair of six-furlong stakes as a juvenile, including the Smoke Glacken at Monmouth Park and the off-the-turf Listed Futurity at Belmont at the Big A, in September and October, respectively.
He received year-end honors as New Jersey’s 2023 Horse of the Year, Champion Sprinter, and Champion 2-Year-Old Male. He now returns to race in the Garden State for the first time since September.
“All the guys that own him are local, so they’ll actually all be able to see him,” said Ryan. “It’ll be the first time they’ve all seen him run at the same time.”
In his ventures elsewhere, the Bucchero gelding has emerged as a force to be reckoned with in dirt sprints, netting his first top-level score in the Grade 1 Woody Stephens. There, he came from nine lengths off a blistering pace set by Barksdale to assume command at the top of the stretch, with enough in reserve to fend off the closing Prince of Monaco.
The performance garnered a career-best 100 Beyer Speed Figure. It also avenged a head defeat to the then-undefeated Forever Young in the one-mile Group 3 Saudi Derby in February at King Abdulaziz Racetrack, where he stalked and took the lead in similar fashion before being nailed at the wire.
Book’em Danno made the voyage to Saudi Arabia after an eye-catching 12 1/2-length romp in the seven-furlong Pasco in January at Tampa Bay Downs.
Bred by Gregory Kilka and Bright View Farm, out of the unraced Ghostzapper mare Adorabella, Book’em Danno is a half-sibling to multiple dirt stakes-winner Girl Trouble.
