Book’em Danno brought some drama to the $115,000 Jersey Shore Stakes at Monmouth Park on Friday, nosing out Little Ni at the wire for his sixth victory eight starts.
Under Samuel Martin, the 3-year-old New Jersey-bred gelding rallied outside of Little Ni in the stretch and got up at the wire in the 6-furlong sprint.
“That's a nice horse that ran second,” winning trainer Derek Ryan said. “We got what we wanted out of the race. He had to fight for it today. If all things go well, we'll be back in Saratoga to run in the Allen Jerkens.”
That would be the 7-furlong H. Allen Jerkens Memorial (G1) at Saratoga on Aug. 24. The win comes after Book’em Danno won the Woody Stephens (G1) at Saratoga on June 8. For those who bet horse racing, the H. Allen Jerkens is on the Travers Stakes (G1) undercard.
His only losses came by a head to Forever Young in the UAE Derby (G2) and a three-quarter length defeat in the 2023 Nashua Stakes.
Book’em Danno ($2.40) was 1-5 in a field of four. Winning time was 1:09.23.
“He ran great. He got beat. I don’t know if it was by a better horse,” trainer Eddie Owens Jr. said of Little Ni, who came into his first stakes race with a 3-0 record. “We did all of the work. He ran a winning race except for the last jump.”
On Saturday, Monmouth Park takes center stage in the racing world with the $1 million Haskell Stakes (G1), featuring the Belmont Stakes (G1) winner Dornoch and runner-up Mindframe, who is the 9-5 morning-line favorite.
Also on the card is the $500,000 Molly Pitcher Stakes (G3) featuring 3-5 favorite Idiomatic, the $600,000 United Nations (G2) on turf with Far Bridge the slight 4-1 favorite in a field of 12, the $400,000 Monmouth Cup (G3) with Highland Falls the 6-5 favorite over 2-1 Tapit Trice, and the $300,000 Matchmaker Stakes (G3) on turf with Beaute Cachee (one of three Chad Brown entries in a field of seven) the 3-1 favorite.
The writing team at US Racing is comprised of both full-time and part-time contributors with expertise in various aspects of the Sport of Kings.
