Trainer Ryan rules Book’em Danno out of trip to Dubai
As impressive as Book’em Danno’s seasonal debut was against a tiny field Friday, and as eager as his connections are to prove his talent on a world stage, the Group 2, $1 million Godolphin Mile on April 5 in Dubai has been ruled out for his next start, trainer Derek Ryan revealed Sunday.
“We’re staying stateside. (The Godolphin Mile) is a little too quick, so we’ll wait a ways to see where he goes next. It’s a long summer, and if we went to (Dubai), we’d probably miss a lot of other races,” said Ryan, who spent most of Sunday with Book’em Danno in Ocala, Fla., as he unwinds from his convincing victory in the seven-furlong Boston Handicap at Colonial Downs.
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“You have to do what’s right by the horse,” Ryan said of last season’s Pasco Stakes winner at Tampa Bay Downs. “There are six owners (the partners in Atlantic Six Racing) who want to enjoy him, and there are plenty of races for him. Keeneland. Churchill Downs. Maybe Monmouth Park or Saratoga.”
The New Jersey-bred, 4-year-old gelding whose final start as a 3-year-old on Dec. 7 resulted in a fifth-place finish in the Cigar Mile Handicap (G2) at Aqueduct, appeared on top of his game Friday. He powered home by 2 1/2 lengths under jockey Paco Lopez. Repo Rocks finished second, and Celtic Contender was third in a field reduced to three horses by eight scratches.
Book’em Danno’s time was an I’m-back clocking of 1:20.03.
“It was a small field, but both of those horses are stakes winners, and (Repo Rocks) has a couple of years on (Book’em Danno). It was a good, solid effort, and (Lopez) gave him the kind of ride I’ll be looking for for a real long time,” Ryan said.
Book’em Danno, who is 7-for-12 with three seconds and career earnings of $1,098,125, followed his Pasco victory at Tampa Bay Downs last winter by finishing second to Forever Young by a head in the Saudi Derby (G3) at King Abdulaziz Racecourse in Riyadh. The Japan-based colt is 8-for-10 lifetime, his only defeats being a pair of third-place finishes in last year’s Kentucky Derby and Breeders’ Cup Classic.
In his first race back in the U.S. on June 8 at Saratoga, Book’em Danno won the Woody Stephens (G1) under Irad Ortiz Jr., defeating Prince of Monaco and Nutella Fella among others with a time of 1:21.30 for seven furlongs. The next month he won the Jersey Shore Stakes at Monmouth under Tampa Bay Downs’ leading rider Samuel Marin, who had ridden him in the Pasco.
A son of multiple Grade 2 winner Bucchero out of Ghostzapper mare Adorabella, Book’em Danno was bred by Greg Kilka and the Bright View Farm of Christine Connelly.