Thoroughbred Breeders’ Association of New Jersey
by Bill Finley
New Jersey-bred star Book ‘em Danno may be based at Monmouth Park, but Saratoga has become his second home. Winning for the second time at the Spa from three starts, Book ‘em Danno won the Grade III $400,000 True North Handicap on June 7. A year earlier, he picked up his first graded stakes win when capturing the Grade I $500,000 Woody Stephens Stakes. They are the two biggest wins of his career.
“Winning at Saratoga never gets old,” said co-owner Jay Briscione. “The first horse we ever ran in Saratoga was him, running in the Grade I Woody Stephens, and he won it. You can’t really top that.”
Book ‘em Danno began his year in a $100, 000 handicap race at Colonial Downs for Virginia-bred or Virginia-certified horses.
“He definitely filled out over the winter,” said trainer Derek Ryan. We gave him a break and turned him out in Ocala over the winter. When we brought him back he was definitely bigger and stronger.”
He won the Colonial race easily, which was to be expected. Trainer Derek Ryan then threw him into the deep end of the pool, entering the GI Churchill Downs Stakes, a race that was loaded with talented sprinters and middle-distance horse like Mindframe and Nysos. Book ‘em Danno ran fourth, beaten just a neck. It was a sign that he could compete against the very best around in the sprinting ranks.
In the True North, he stalked the pacesetters from fourth down the stretch, launched his bid on the far turn and drew even with the leaders. But he was soon in a fight with second-choice Mullikin. The two were on even terms until Book ‘em Danno started to draw clear inside the sixteenth pole. With Paco Lopez aboard, he won by 1 1/4 lengths.
Was this his best race?
“It depends on how you look at these things, sheet-wise and with all the numbers,” Briscione said. “When you have a (wet) track like that it’s hard to discern. But I would tend to agree with anyone who said it was his best race. It looks like he’s getting back to his 2-year-old style, where Paco has gotten him into the race early and then can sit back. As a 2-year-old the horses he was facing aren’t as good as the ones he’s running against now, so he was winning by open lengths, Now it looks like he’s making that move to be closer to the pace, which is where Derek has always wanted him. Mullikin is a nice horse. It was a Grade III but, who knows, it could have been a Grade II or even a Grade I. He’s been chasing down nice horses. He’s just that game. The thing we keep seeing is he brings it every time. I think I’ve asked Derek, what makes him different from other horses? He says it’s that his mind is great and his heart is even greater. This is very exciting for us. Never did we expect this. Look at his sheet. The consistency that he shows is a tribute to the way Derek has trained this horse. He’s done a super job.”
The connections have yet to figure out what’s next for Danno.
“We’ll just see how he comes out of this race,” Briscione said. “The day after he was rearing and playing and it didn’t look like the race did a lot to him. But you never know. It takes a little bit of time. As for his next race, we haven’t really talked about it.”
Two races under consideration are the July 19 Alfred G. Vanderbilt and the Aug. 23 Forego, both of which are run in Saratoga.
Because Book ‘em Danno is a gelding the connections only need to worry about how much money the horse earns. Briscione has set his sights on Book ‘em Danno becoming the leading money-winning New Jersey bred of all time. With $1,360,425, he is third behind Sunny Ridge ($1,443,677) and Open Mind ($1,844,372). If he stays healthy Open Mind’s record would seem to be in trouble.
“At the same point in time he’s a gelding, so you don’t have a lot goals other than earning money and keeping him sound,” Ryan said. “To be the leading money-winning Jersey bred is a goal.”
Book ‘em Danno was second in the 2024 Grade III Saudi Derby in 2024 and, ever since, it has been Ryan’s goal to get him back there for the Saudi Cup. It’s a one-turn mile-and-an-eighth race and Ryan is convinced that it’s not too long for him.
“I’d like to take him to Saudi Arabia for the Saudi Cup,” Ryan said. “It’s a one turn mile-and-an-eighth and the purse is 20 million bucks. If I ever stretch him out it will be for that race.”
The Saudi Cup is not until next February, which gives Ryan and Briscione and his partners plenty of time to map out a schedule that will get him there in proper order.
“If we decide to go that way, to the Middle East, I’d probably stop on him a little earlier in the fall and then come back and get a prep for the Saudi Cup,” Ryan said. “I hope to it try it at least once. He could do it next year as a five-year-old or maybe at six.”
In the meantime they’ll have plenty of time to celebrate the True North win.
“He’s just a cool horse.”Ryan said. “He runs everywhere; he’s been at nine different tracks. That’s a lot of racetracks for one horse. He’s a cool horse. A really cool horse. I wish I had a barn full of them.”