By Bill Finley
After entering stable star Book'em Danno (Bucchero) in both Friday's Robert Hilton Memorial at Charles Town and Saturday's GI H. Allen Jerkens Memorial S., trainer Derek Ryan confirmed Wednesday that his New Jersey-bred gelding will go in the Saratoga race.
Both races are restricted to three-year-olds, have purses of $500,000 and will be run at the distance of seven furlongs.
“We're going to Saratoga,” Ryan said from his base at Monmouth Park. “He got a good post (post 8). At Charles Town, he got a bad post (post 2) and it's a two-turn race. He doesn't like to be down in there tight and with the speed drawn to the outside of him that's probably what would have happened. I know Saratoga is the tougher of the two. But it's Saratoga. You win a race at Charles Town and no one will know that it happened.
“If I drew the one or two hole in Saratoga, it would have been a no-brainer. I'd be going to the other place. I'm surprised I'm the only one who cross entered. A lot of people are hoping to win the Jerkens to make their horses stallions. I wouldn't mind shattering their dreams.”
After running second in the Saudi Derby, Book'em Danno has reeled off wins in the GI Woody Stephens S. and the Jersey Shore S. He will not have an easy assignment in Saratoga. Book 'em Danno has been installed as the 7-2 morning line favorite, but will have to tangle with a pair of 'TDN Rising Stars' in Prince of Monaco (Speightstown) (4-1) and Timberlake (Into Mischief), who was third in the GI Haskell and is 5-1 in the line. The race drew 11 horses.
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