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After Romping in Pasco, Jersey-Bred Star Book ’em Danno on His Way to Saudi Derby

Bred in New Jersey, Book 'em Danno (Bucchero) is a 3-year-old, has been beaten only once in five starts, has won three stakes and is coming off a career-best effort when beating up on five inferior rivals in the Jan. 13 Pasco S. at Tampa Bay Downs. With most owners and trainers, to have a horse like that would mean they'd be hyper-focused on getting to the GI Kentucky Derby. But not trainer Derek Ryan or the partnership that races under the name of Atlantic Six Racing LLC. They're headed to Saudi Arabia for the $1.5-million G3 Saudi Derby on Feb. 24. The Kentucky Derby is not under consideration.

“The Saudi Derby is a one-turn mile, he's a gelding, there's a lot of money,” Ryan said. “I have no Derby dreams. I've been down that road before and it didn't do me any good. I think the Derby is overrated, but that's just me. We were never really considering the Derby trail. The Derby trail, you always have to make works, make races. You put the horse under a lot of pressure.”

Atlantic Six Racing LLC is made up of six friends who reside on the Jersey Shore. They are Frank Camassa, Jeff Resnikoff, Mark Rubenstein, James Rubenstein, Jim Scappi and Jay Briscione. It was Mark Rubenstein who came up with the name Book'em Danno, which is what Steve McGarrett said at the end of each episode of the television show “Hawaii Five-O” after nailing a guilty criminal.

The group never had the type of money needed to buy a highly rated horse at the sales, but did have some luck with a high-priced claimer named Counterfeitcurency (Currency Swap), who made nearly $200,000. That gave them enough money to look around for some younger horses and an advisor pointed them in the direction of Book 'em Danno, who was being shopped around by his breeders, Greg Kilka and Christine Connelly of Bright View Farm. There was not a lot to go on. Book 'em Danno is the second foal out of Adorabella (Ghostzapper) who never raced. The first foal had just broken her maiden when Atlantic Six privately purchased Book 'em Danno and did so by just a half length in a slow time. But she turned out to be a runner. Named Girl Trouble (Fast Anna), she has won two stakes, the Future Stars Filly Division S. and the Parx Futurity.

So the team was optimistic when Book'em Danno made his first start and won a maiden race for Jersey-breds by 9 1/2 lengths.

“He always acted like a nice horse,” Ryan said. “I don't crank horses up to win first time out because unless you really have a superstar, there's no place to run them. Nowadays, if you break your maiden the only races available to you are stakes race. I only had him 70% right for that first race, which told me I had a good one.”

He returned a month later and beat open company in the Smoke Glacken S. at Monmouth and followed that up with a win in the Futurity at the Belmont at Aqueduct meet. He then ran well in defeat when second in the Nashua S. at Aqueduct.

Atlantic Six and Ryan weren't the only ones cheering Book'em Danno along. Kilka bought Adorabella for $14,000 at the 2020 Keeneland January Sale. They sold Girl Trouble for just $15,000 and probably didn't break the bank when selling Book'em Danno. But their rewards were about to come. They sold the third foal, a colt by Classic Empire, at the Fasig-Tipton Midlantic Fall Yearlings sale for $135,000. They then sold Adorabella for $550,000 at Fasig-Tipton November. She was believed to be in foal to Medaglia d'Oro at the time, but the foal was aborted.

After the defeat in the Nashua, Ryan and the owners began to formulate their plans for Book'em Danno's 3-year-old campaign. Ryan confirmed that he wanted no part of the Derby. He had started one horse in the race in Musket Man (Yonaguska), who finished third in 2009.

With Book'em Danno being a gelding and possibly a horse who would prefer one turn, Ryan wanted to pick out spots with big purses that would fit the gelding's style. Even before the Pasco, he had set his sights on the Saudi Derby.

But first the Pasco. It was not a particularly strong field and Book'em Danno was sent off at odds on 1-10. Soft spot or not, he could not have won any easier. With Samuel Marin aboard, he inched up to the leaders while four wide on the turn. Marin never seemed to ask his horse for his best run, but he nonetheless drew off in the stretch to win by 12 1/2 lengths.

“After the race I had to pinch myself,” Briscione said. “It would have been one thing if he won by a length or something, but for him to draw off the way he did and win so easily. That was something. He moves somewhat effortlessly. It's very exciting for all of us. We thought he'd run good but that was crazy what he did.”

At the invitation of the Jockey Club of Saudi Arabia, Ryan was planning to hop on a plane to Riyadh Jan. 17 so that he could get the lay of the land before sending the horse over.

“This is a great position to be in,” Briscione said. “We're a little group and we don't have the experience some of the big groups have had, but we're always trying to figure out what's best for the horse. There are rewards and risks. The reward in Saudi is the money. The distance seems to suit him. The only issue is that once you come back, you'll probably need about three months before you're ready to race. That's ok if you run good. If you don't, it can be a problem. But who would have thought we'd ever be going to Saudi Arabia. It's a once-in-a-lifetime chance. It's a lot of fun. It's also a little nerve-wracking. We couldn't be more excited about this.”

The Saudi Derby won't be easy. Horses from 10 countries have been nominated and an American contingent could include horses from the stables of Christophe Clement, Brad Cox, Ken McPeek, Rick Dutrow, Brendan Walsh, Steve Asmussen, John Sadler, Bob Baffert and Todd Pletcher. All have at least one horse nominated.

But Book'em Danno is not to be underestimated.

“You can never take anything for granted in this sport,” Ryan said. “But we think we're in a great position.”

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Futures For Sophomores Markhamian, Outfoxed Grow Brighter After Tampa Stakes Scores

For many 3-year-old Thoroughbred owners and trainers, January is a month when dreams can take wings.

On Skyway Festival Day Saturday at Tampa Bay Downs, the connections of a pair of Florida-breds – $125,000 Pasco Stakes winner Markhamian and $125,000 Gasparilla Stakes winner Outfoxed – gained a license to look toward even more lucrative prizes after convincing victories on the fast Oldsmar racing surface.

Markhamian, a late May 2018 colt bred and owned by Sergio Ripamonti and trained by Juan Carlos Avila, found another gear in deep stretch to post a 2 ½-length triumph from Provocateur, with favorite Cattin, the Dec. 4 Inaugural Stakes winner, third in the seven-horse field. Marcos Meneses rode the winner, who posted a 7-furlong time of 1:23.23 and paid $12.60 as the fourth betting choice.

Outfoxed was just as impressive in the Gasparilla, which featured a field of eight ambitious sophomore fillies. Reserved in mid-pack early by jockey Samy Camacho, Outfoxed staged a tenacious rally through the stretch to catch the Dec. 4 Sandpiper Stakes winner, Strategic Bird, with Goddess of Fire rallying to grab second, three-quarters of a length back of the winner and three-quarters better than Strategic Bird.

Outfoxed, who won a pair of Florida Thoroughbreds Breeders' and Owners' Association stakes last year at Gulfstream by a combined 22 ¾ lengths, completed the 7 furlongs in 1:23.37. She paid $4.20 as the betting favorite. Now 3-for-4 lifetime, she is owned by the LNJ Foxwoods concern of Larry and Nanci Roth and their daughter Jaime Roth and trained by Hall of Fame conditioner Bill Mott.

The best news for the connections of the winners, on this sunny and pleasant Saturday, at least, is that both were eligible for the $50,000 Florida Sire Stakes bonus and the $25,000 Florida-bred bonus (both offered through the FTBOA), meaning they each earned a cool $105,000 from the total purse.

In Saturday's third stakes, the $50,000 Wayward Lass for older fillies and mares, 7-year-old mare Nantucket Red stole away to a 6-length lead up the backstretch and had plenty left in the tank to turn back a late rally from betting favorite Allworthy by 3 lengths. Don't Get Khozy finished third.

Olaf Hernandez rode Nantucket Red, who paid $33.60 to win after completing the 1 1/16-mile distance in 1:44.53 for her first stakes victory. The daughter of Get Stormy-Scarlett Madeleine, by Smart Strike, is owned by Colebrook Farms of Canada and trained by Michael Wright, who is 5-for-5 at Tampa Bay Downs this season.

Back to the Pasco, after which Meneses, who is based at Gulfstream Park in south Florida, let out a loud whoop when asked to describe his emotions. Most in the crowd expected the invader to fade after Provocateur and Cattin put in their moves on the turn for home, but Meneses, who has ridden Markhamian in all three starts, could feel his horse was just starting to roll along the inside.

“This horse did everything perfect today,” Meneses said after the son of Social Inclusion-Peruvian Jane, by Colonel John, improved to 2-for-3 with a second. “The fractions were a little fast (22.22 seconds for the first quarter-mile and 44.86 for the half), but I knew I had the horse in the last furlong.”

Ripamonti, who campaigns Markhamian under his Santa Rosa Racing Stables banner, was delighted with the victory, which could put Markhamian on track for the Grade 3, $250,000 Sam F. Davis Stakes here on Feb. 12. “I thought he might be done on the turn, but this horse has a lot of (guts),” Ripamonti said. “Marcos did a good job urging him, and he had the heart to get it done. It was a courageous effort and he drew away at the end.

“He was coming into the race fantastic; he was in great shape and his color and skin tone were good. He was super-ready,” Ripamonti said.

Avila, who knew his horse was talented coming into the race, could have another one like his 2020 G2 Lambholm South Tampa Bay Derby winner, King Guillermo. That's the beauty of this time of year; you never know.

Certainly, the connections of Outfoxed were just this side of “over the moon” after she beat a graded stakes-placed filly in Goddess of Fire and a stakes winner in Strategic Bird. Camacho, who was riding the daughter of Valiant Minister-Savingtime, by Kantharos, for the first time, was able to follow Mott's pre-race instructions nearly to the letter, and it paid off in a professional and convincing triumph for the winner, whose previous victory on Sept. 25 came in the 1 1/16-mile FTBOA Florida Sire My Dear Girl Stakes at Gulfstream.

“(Mott) said she doesn't have great early speed and to put her in the middle of the pack early, and that's what I did,” Camacho said. “I got her to relax, and when the other horses started to move I did my work and she responded pretty well. I thought I had the best horse in the race and I thought she was the best at the distance.

“I feel great, because every time I ride for trainers like Bill Mott, it gives me more confidence. It's a good feeling,” added Camacho, who added the 10th race on the turf on 4-year-old filly Investmentstrategy for owner Klaravich Stables and trainer Chad Brown.

Samy Camacho celebrates Outfoxed's win in the Gasparilla

Mott, who watched the race from south Florida, figured going in that Outfoxed might have to work harder than she had in her two previous victories. “It was a different group of horses on a different racetrack , and I thought it took her about a quarter-mile to get her legs under her,” he said. “But she was able to get up in gear enough for the win and was very professional about it.

“The water is going to get deeper from here on, and I think her toughest tests are ahead of her,” said Mott, who said the $150,000 Suncoast Stakes here on Feb. 12 at a mile-and-40-yards could be an option for Outfoxed's next start. “We want to keep the doors open at Tampa and elsewhere.”

Wayward Lass Stakes winner Nantucket Red, whose five previous starts came on turf, had won an allowance/optional claiming event here on the lawn on Dec. 17 by a neck before Wright decided to try dirt, with prodding from Colebrook Farms owner John Burness.

“She got beat 17 lengths in her last start on dirt (last March at Gulfstream), but Mr. Burness told me this is different dirt at Tampa,” said Wright. Indeed, Nantucket Red worked a crackerjack half-mile here on Dec. 31 on the main surface in 47 3/5 seconds, second-fastest of 43 that day at the distance.

“That's one for the underdog,” Wright said. “She went the half-mile in (47.53 seconds), and that was it.”

Olaf Hernandez, one of several underrated jockeys here, followed his instructions almost perfectly, and was surprised the rest of the field let him get such a big lead. Although she drifted out in the stretch, Nantucket Red was never threatened.

“I want to thank Mike and all the guys in his barn, because they did a great job getting this mare ready,” Hernandez said. “I asked her again at the quarter pole and she kept going.”

Nantucket Red

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Deja Vu All Over Again At Tampa Bay Downs? Pasco, Gasparilla Winners Continue To Make History

It's a funny thing about history: sometimes you don't know it's being made until years after it happens.

If that sounds like a Yogi Berra-ism, well, a horse named Yogi Berra (after the Hall of Fame Yankees catcher) was 2-for-2 at Tampa Bay Downs in 2014. Remember?

Here's something else you might have forgotten, or not even known. Since 2009, six winners of the seven-furlong Pasco Stakes for 3-year-olds at Tampa Bay Downs subsequently accounted for 10 graded-stakes victories.

Certainly, a lot of fans recall 2009 Pasco winner Musket Man, who not only won the (then)-Grade 3 Tampa Bay Derby and G2 Illinois Derby, but finished third in both the Kentucky Derby and Preakness.

Other Pasco winners to capture graded victories afterward include Prospective (2011); Dynamic Sky (2013); Catalina Red (2015); World of Trouble (who won two Grade 1 stakes after his 2018 Pasco victory); and Grade 1 winner Win Win Win (2019), who set the Oldsmar track record of 1:20.89 in his Pasco triumph.

OK, so you had a pretty good idea the Pasco has produced more than its share of top-quality winners (and a couple of runners-up who went on to much bigger and better things, General Quarters in 2009 and X Y Jet in 2015).

What you likely didn't know, though, is that the seven-furlong Gasparilla Stakes – Tampa Bay Downs's 3-year-old fillies counterpart, which shares top billing with the Pasco on the Jan. 15 Skyway Festival Day card – has just about an equally impressive record of producing winners who bathed themselves in greater glory later.

Since 2006, six fillies have won a combined eight graded stakes after their Gasparilla triumph, including subsequent G3 Florida Oaks winners at Tampa Bay Downs Awesome Chic (2008) and Diva Delite (2010), along with 2015 Gasparilla winner Irish Jasper, who went on to win three graded stakes.

That statistic fails to mention 2003 Gasparilla winner Ebony Breeze, who subsequently won four G3 stakes, including the Florida Oaks, for an owner who knew Yogi pretty well: George Steinbrenner.

Well, the point is (and we know you made it this far, or you wouldn't still be reading) that nominations have been released for the two $125,000 3-year-old races, along with the third stakes on the Jan. 15 program, the $50,000 Wayward Lass Stakes for older fillies and mares at 1 1/16 miles.

The 24^th running of the Pasco, technically for 3-year-olds of both sexes, closed with 29 colt and gelding nominees, including three of the first four finishers in the Dec. 4 Inaugural Stakes at Tampa Bay Downs: winner Cattin, a colt trained by Ralph Nicks; third-place finisher Grand Valley, a colt trained by Victor Barboza, Jr.; and fourth-place finisher Magical Mousse, a colt conditioned by Jesse Cruz.

Among the other Pasco nominees are two from Hall of Fame trainer Todd Pletcher, Oldsmar maiden winner Provocateur and Dean's List.

Here is the link for the nominations to the Pasco, followed by the link to their past performances:

https://www.equibase.com/premium/eqbHorsemenAreaDownloadAction.cfm?sn=SN-TAM-20220115-573158

https://www.equibase.com/premium/eqbHorsemenAreaDownloadAction.cfm?sn=SNPP-TAM-20220115-573158

The 38^th running of the Gasparilla (first run in 1984, when Berra managed the Yankees), closed with 26 sophomore fillies nominated. Included are the first three finishers in the Sandpiper Stakes here on Dec. 4: winner Strategic Bird, trained by Hall of Fame conditioner Mark Casse; runner-up Devine Charger, trained by Jordan Blair; and third-place finisher Chasing Happiness, trained by David Fawkes, along with a two-time stakes winner trained by Hall of Famer Bill Mott, Outfoxed.

Here is the link for the nominations to the Gasparilla, followed by the link to their past performances:

https://www.equibase.com/premium/eqbHorsemenAreaDownloadAction.cfm?sn=SN-TAM-20220115-573160

https://www.equibase.com/premium/eqbHorsemenAreaDownloadAction.cfm?sn=SNPP-TAM-20220115-573160

The 38^th running of the Wayward Lass has attracted 19 nominations, including Special Princess, the dead-heat winner of last year's Gasparilla. Here is the link for the nominations to the Wayward Lass, followed by the link to their past performances:

https://www.equibase.com/premium/eqbHorsemenAreaDownloadAction.cfm?sn=SN-TAM-20220115-573159

https://www.equibase.com/premium/eqbHorsemenAreaDownloadAction.cfm?sn=SNPP-TAM-20220115-573159

(Yogi and George, we miss ya.)

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Inaugural, Sandpiper Kick Off Stakes Calendar At Tampa Bay Downs

Promising 2-year-olds, some whose connections have designs on tackling bigger challenges in 2022, will step into the spotlight on Saturday, Dec. 4 when Tampa Bay Downs in Oldsmar, Fla., launches its stakes schedule with a pair of $100,000 six-furlong sprints.

The 36th running of the Inaugural Stakes for 2-year-olds and the 44th edition of the Sandpiper Stakes for 2-year-old fillies begin a progression of Oldsmar stakes races that could lead the best of the bunch to a date with equine destiny in more lucrative engagements as 3-year-olds next year (for record-keeping purposes, all Thoroughbreds are considered to age a year on Jan. 1).

The Inaugural has drawn 28 nominations, while the Sandpiper has attracted 33 nominations. The Inaugural, for colts and geldings, is designed as a precursor to the $125,000 seven-furlong Pasco Stakes on Jan. 15. The next steps for the most talented of the males include the $250,000 Grade 3 Sam F. Davis Stakes at a mile-and-a-sixteenth on Feb. 12 and the $400,000 G2 Lambholm South Tampa Bay Derby on March 12.

Both the Sam F. Davis and the Lambholm South Tampa Bay Derby are “Road to the Kentucky Derby” races, awarding points to the first four finishers toward qualifying for a spot in the starting gate at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Ky., in the Run for the Roses on May 7.

Gerry Stanislawzyk, the Tampa Bay Downs Stakes Coordinator, said possible Inaugural starters include the gelding Captain Cajun, who broke his maiden on Oct. 3 at Gulfstream Park in Hallandale Beach, Fla. The son of Cajun Breeze is trained by Michael Yates, who won last year's Inaugural with Poppy's Pride.

Other Inaugural possible include gelding Concrete Glory, whose three career victories for trainer Gerald Brooks have come at different tracks; Little Vic, a maiden winner at Gulfstream from the barn of trainer Juan Carlos Avila; Viva Victory, a winner on turf at Monmouth Park in Oceanport, N.J., in his only start for owner-trainer Arnoud Dobber; and Whistlewhileyoumow, who broke his maiden earlier this month at Hawthorne Race Course in Stickney, Ill., for trainer Jon Arnett.

The next step after the Sandpiper for the fillies is the $125,000 seven-furlong Gasparilla Stakes on Jan. 15. Those showing sufficient talent and desire could then advance to the $150,000 Suncoast Stakes, a mile-and-40-yard contest on Feb. 12.

The Suncoast is a “Road to the Kentucky Oaks” race, awarding points to the first four finishers toward earning a spot in the May 6 Kentucky Oaks.

Sandpiper possibles, according to Stanislawzyk, include Last Leaf, whose three victories from six starts for trainer Ron Spatz include a score in the Hollywood Beach Stakes on the turf on Sept. 25 at Gulfstream.

Other possible entrants include Strategic Bird, who broke her maiden by 12 ¾ lengths in her career debut on Nov. 13 at Gulfstream for trainer Mark Casse; Chasing Happiness, a David Fawkes-trainee who broke her maiden at Gulfstream earlier this month by 6 ½ lengths; and She's My Warrior, who won the Northern Lights Debutant Stakes in September at Canterbury Park in Shakopee, Minn., for trainer Tim Padilla.

The Inaugural and the Sandpiper are part of what is certain to be a December to remember as action at Tampa Bay Downs heats up approaching the holiday season.

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