Trip to Dubai on the line for Book'em Danno in Boston Handicap
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Book’em Danno will make his 4-year-old debut in the $150,000 Boston Handicap on Friday at Colonial Downs. Expectations are high for the graded stakes winner who will likely travel overseas next month if things go well at seven furlongs in Virginia.
“Everything has gone perfect,” trainer Derek Ryan said. “He’s training great. Hopefully, everything goes to plan and we’ll ship him to Dubai.”
Ryan is preparing his gelding for a second trip to the Middle East, having sent him as a 3-year-old to the Group 3 Saudi Derby, where he came up just short against Japanese superstar Forever Young at a mile. After that defeat, Book’em Danno returned to the United States and won the Grade 1 Woody Stephens at Saratoga in June. In 11 career starts, he has earned just more than $1 million, winning five stakes races and finishing in the money in another four, including the Grade 1 Allen Jerkens and Grade 3 Perryville.
Book’em Danno’s last start was a disappointing fifth-place finish in the Grade 2 Cigar Mile at Aqueduct in December. Though Book’em Danno appeared worn down in that performance at the end of a jet-setting campaign, Ryan has been content with his progress in training this winter at Tampa Bay Downs, where the gelding has given his trainer the impression that he’s grown into a different kind of runner.
Looking ahead to the Dubai World Cup card in early April, instead of targeting the $2 million Dubai Golden Shaheen at six furlongs, Ryan believes the $1 million Godolphin Mile could be the better fit.
“He’s gotten to the stage where he wants to go a little longer,” Ryan said.
Though Book’em Danno was bred in New Jersey, Virginia’s restricted stakes program allows horses who settle in the state for six months before their juvenile season to earn certification. He is one of eight horses bred outside Virginia in the field of 11.
It is unlikely that most connections expected to encounter a rival like Book’em Danno when they entered their horses in the Boston. Celtic Contender and Circle P have both recently won state-restricted stakes at Laurel, but besides the even-money favorite, only two other runners have competed in graded stakes competition.
Repo Rocks, a hard-knocking 7-year-old gelding, won a pair of Grade 3 stakes in New York in 2023. Coffeewithchris, now a 5-year-old, gained nominal Grade 1 experience when he ran in the 2023 Preakness, finishing last in a field of seven.
– additional reporting by David Grening
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