Book’em Danno and Ortiz get to the wire first in the Woody Stephens. (Susie Raisher)
Six-Furlong Feature Draws A Field Of Six 3-Year-Olds
Tom Luicci/Monmouth Park
OCEANPORT, N.J. – Grade 1 winner Book’em Danno was among six 3-year-olds entered today for Friday’s Jersey Shore Stakes at Monmouth Park, with trainer Derek Ryan saying a final decision on the gelding’s next start “will be made later in the week.”
The Jersey Shore Stakes, to be contested at six furlongs, carries a purse of $100,000.
Book’em Danno last raced on June 8 at Saratoga, taking the Grade 1 Woody Stephens that day. The New Jersey-bred son of Bucchero-Adorabella by Ghostzapper has five wins and two seconds from seven career starts.
Ryan has stated that his long-term goal is the Grade 1 Allen Jerkens at Saratoga on Aug. 24.
His options to get there, he said, are the Jersey Shore Stakes, the Grade 2 Troy Stakes on the grass at Saratoga on Aug. 3 or the Grade 2 Amsterdam Stakes at Saratoga on July 26.
“I’m going to talk to the owners (Atlantic Six Racing) and we’ll make a decision,” he said. “I think we’ll know by Wednesday or Thursday.”
Book’em Danno started his career with two wins at Monmouth Park a year ago, capturing the Smoke Glacken Stakes on Sept. 9.
Ryan has worked his star sprinter twice since the Woody Stephens, most recently on Thursday at Monmouth Park where he went four furlongs in :47-flat breezing.
Also entered in the Jersey Shore Stakes is the Eddie Owens-trained Little Ni, a Kentucky-bred son of Mohaymen who is 3-for-3 lifetime but has yet to try stakes company. The rest of the field is comprised of Jasper’s Pride, Proprietary Trade, Buccherino and Let’s Go Mark.
