Book'em Danno at top of hill after holding off Scotland in Forego Stakes
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SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - Book’em Danno staked claim to the top spot in the sprint division after withstanding a late bid by Scotland to register a popular, one-length victory in Saturday’s Grade 1, $500,000 Forego Stakes at Saratoga and earning an automatic, fees-paid berth into the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile.
Book’em Danno, who won the Grade 1 Woody Stephens here in 2024, completed a sweep of the three premier sprint races this season at Saratoga: he had also won the Grade 3 True North and the Grade 2 A G Vanderbilt as a steppingstone to the Forego, and earned career-best Beyer Speed Figures for both performances.
With regular rider Paco Lopez aboard, Book‘em Danno broke a bit slow before rushing to close contention between horses in the run down the backstretch. Book‘em Danno split rivals upon settling into the stretch, overtook Most Wanted a furlong from the wire, and edged well clear before maintaining a safe advantage to the end.
Scotland raced near the rear of the 10-horse field, swung wide into the stretch and finished best of all to be second-best, three-parts of a length in front of Crazy Mason, who rallied from last to finish third. He was followed, in order, by Doc Sullivan, Most Wanted, Bishops Bay, Mullikin, Extra Anejo, Hold My Bourbon and Over and Ollie.
Book’em Danno is trained by Derek Ryan for the Atlantic Six Racing LLC. A New Jersey-bred son of Bucchero with 10 victories in 16 lifetime starts, he completed the distance in 1:22.43 over a fast strip (98 Beyer Speed Figure) and paid $3.80 as the prohibitive favorite.
“He was in between horses, but I wasn’t really too worried. Once I saw him pretty close turning for home I knew he’d have his kick,” Ryan said. “Paco gets along with him. He’s unbelievable. He gets the position I want all the time. It’s not easy to do. There was one scratch. It put us a little closer to the rail. It’s a tough position. Especially in a seven-eighths race. But everything is good. He’s just an unbelievable horse.”
As for a potential start in the Breeders’ Cup after having just earned an automatic, fees-paid berth, Ryan continued to stay firm to his original plan for the horse, which was to skip the Breeders’ Cup this fall.
“I’m going to stick to my plan, although it might change. They’re (the owners) pretty good about leaving me alone, they’ve never told me where to run. And it’s worked out pretty good,” Ryan added.
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