Returning to the site of his first grade 1 win, leading 3-year-old sprinter Book'em Danno will have a chance to add another top-level victory to his résumé Aug. 24 at Saratoga Race Course in the $500,000 H. Allen Jerkens Memorial Stakes (G1).
Racing for Atlantic Six Racing, Book'em Danno has displayed high-level consistency in winning six of eight career starts while never finishing worse than second. Those half-dozen wins have included five stakes, topped by the June 8 Woody Stephens Stakes (G1).
Trained by Derek Ryan, the Bucchero gelding enters off a narrow victory in the Jersey Shore Stakes July 19 at Monmouth Park. The victory in that six-furlong sprint kept Book'em Danno perfect in races of seven furlongs or shorter.
Ryan had cross-entered Book'em Danno in the Aug. 23 Robert Hilton Memorial Stakes at Hollywood Casino at Charles Town Races, which, like the Jerkens, is a $500,000 race for 3-year-olds at seven furlongs. Some of the Atlantic Six partners were handicapping both races early in the week, and Aug. 21 Ryan told BloodHorse that Book'em Danno would ship to Saratoga.
Long-term, Ryan is pointing his stable star for the 2025 Saudi Cup (G1), a $20 million race. Ryan believes Book'em Danno will be able to stretch out for that 1 1/8-mile race contested over one turn at King Abdulaziz Racecourse. That would be a return to King Abdulaziz for Book'em Danno, who in February finished second by a head to international standout Forever Young in the one-mile Saudi Derby (G3). The Japanese-trained Forever Young went on to win the U.A.E. Derby (G2) before finishing a close third in the Kentucky Derby (G1).
Book'em Danno is not the only grade 1 winner in Saturday's expected field of 11 as last year's Del Mar Futurity (G1) victor Prince of Monaco and Champagne Stakes (G1) winner Timberlake also are entered. Trained by Bob Baffert, Prince of Monaco finished a close second to Book'em Danno in the Woody Stephens after a troubled start.
"We always early on knew he was a good horse," Baffert said of the son of champion sprinter Speightstown. "He showed it in the mornings, and then he showed it in the afternoon."
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Timberlake had been on the classic trail this year, a path that saw him win the Rebel Stakes (G2) at Oaklawn Park. But after a third in the Haskell Stakes (G1) July 20 at Monmouth, trainer Brad Cox opted for a sprint try with the son of five-time leading sire Into Mischief .
"He probably doesn't want a mile-and-an-eighth. I think we figured that out in his last two starts. He's a very good horse, and he ran big up here last year in the Hopeful—he was unlucky not to win," Cox said. "I think cutting him back to one turn is really what he wants to do."
The field also includes World Record, entered off a dominating Amsterdam Stakes (G2) win July 26 at Saratoga; the promising Speak Easy, who landed his second score in as many starts in a July 27 allowance at the Spa; and Tampa Bay Derby (G3) winner Domestic Product , who enters off a 7 1/2-length victory in the Dwyer Stakes (G3) in quick time July 6 at Aqueduct Racetrack.
Jockey Flavien Prat, aboard four of the Jerkens runners in their last starts, stays aboard Domestic Product.
Saratoga Race Course, Saturday, August 24, 2024, Race 12Entries: H. Allen Jerkens Memorial S. (G1)
PP Horse Jockey Wgt Trainer M/L 1 1World Record (KY) Luis Saez 122 Rodolphe Brisset 8/1 2 2Speak Easy (KY) Irad Ortiz, Jr. 118 Todd A. Pletcher 8/1 3 3Domestic Product (KY) Flavien Prat 120 Chad C. Brown 9/2 4 4Vettriano (NY) Manuel Franco 118 Brad H. Cox 20/1 5 5Prince of Monaco (KY) John R. Velazquez 122 Bob Baffert 4/1 6 6Timberlake (KY) Florent Geroux 122 Brad H. Cox 5/1 7 7Otto the Conqueror (KY) Tyler Gaffalione 118 Steven M. Asmussen 20/1 8 8Book'em Danno (NJ) Javier Castellano 124 Derek S. Ryan 7/2 9 9Reynolds Channel (KY) Joel Rosario 118 William I. Mott 30/1 10 10Jefferson Street (KY) Junior Alvarado 118 William I. Mott 12/1 11 11Little Ni (KY) Jose L. Ortiz 118 Mark E. Casse 10/1
