Champion Male Sprinter Book’em Danno returns in G2 Carter presented by NYRA Bets
Atlantic Six Racing’s Book’em Danno, the reigning Champion Male Sprinter, will make his seasonal debut in Saturday’s Grade 2, $300,000 Carter, a seven-furlong sprint for older horses, at Aqueduct Racetrack.
The Carter, slated as Race 6, is one of five stakes on a blockbuster card headlined by the 101st running of the Grade 2, $750,000 Wood Memorial presented by Resorts World Casino [Race 12], a nine-furlong route for sophomores offering 100-50-25-15-10 Kentucky Derby qualifying points. Also on the docket are the Grade 3, $200,000 Gazelle [Race 11] – a 100-50-25-15-10 qualifier for the Kentucky Oaks, the Grade 3, $150,000 Distaff [Race 10] and the Listed $150,000 Excelsior [Race 3]. First post on the 12-race program is 12:40 p.m. Eastern.
Book’em Danno [post 2, Paco Lopez, 124 pounds], trained by Derek Ryan, took home Eclipse Award honors as well as his third successive New Jersey-bred Horse of the Year title on the back of a four-win campaign that included a trio of graded scores at Saratoga Race Course.
The 5-year-old Bucchero gelding secured his first Grade 1 win when taking the Woody Stephens presented by Mohegan Sun in June 2024 at Saratoga and last summer added the Grade 3 True North in June, Grade 2 Alfred G. Vanderbilt in July and Grade 1 Forego in August to a sparkling Spa ledger to conclude his campaign.
Ryan said Book’em Danno, who has won his seasonal debut in each of his previous three seasons of racing, is thriving.
“The break has done him the world of good. He's bigger and stronger. He's developed into a big horse. He's training better this year than last,” Ryan said.
Book’em Danno has posted a strong series of works over the Tampa Bay Downs dirt, including a three-eighths gate breeze in 37 seconds flat under returning rider Paco Lopez on March 27 before shipping north to Belmont Park.
“It went good. He's good to go. Everything is going to plan,” Ryan said. “I don't crank them. He'll run his race, but he'll have a lot of improvement from it, too.”
Ryan said he will pick his spots with Book’em Danno this year mindful of a campaign that will include a return to the Spa where he earned a career-best 111 Beyer Speed Figure for his 2 1/2-length Vanderbilt score.
“I think that was his best race,” Ryan said of the Vanderbilt effort. “He won't run in all three races this year, it's very tough. He'll run four or five times. They say their 5-year-old year is their best year, hopefully they're right.”
The eight-time stakes winner is out of the unraced Ghostzapper mare Adorabella, who also produced dual stakes-winner Girl Trouble. He has banked in excess of $1.8 million via a 16-10-3-1 ledger and is named after the catchphrase from the television show Hawaii Five-O.
Repole Stable’s Be You [post 4, Kendrick Carmouche, 122 pounds] has won three of his last four starts, the lone defeat coming to rising star Knightsbridge in a salty optional-claiming event here in November.
Trained by Hall of Famer Todd Pletcher, the 5-year-old Curlin gelding earned a Grade 1-placing as a juvenile when third in the 2023 Grade 1 American Pharoah going two turns at Santa Anita Park. His lone sophomore score came in a seven-furlong maiden sprint at Gulfstream Park in March 2024 one month before landing off-the-board in the nine-furlong Grade 1 Blue Grass, at Keeneland.
Be You has been near perfect since returning from a more than one-year layoff in October at Keeneland where he closed from 10th-of-11 and 6 3/4-lengths off the pace to notch a seven-furlong allowance win. He followed with the aforementioned closing try versus Knightsbridge before being elevated to victory in a one-turn mile optional-claimer in December here when he made a strong stretch run and checked off the heels of his drifting out stablemate Donegal Surges, who crossed the wire first and was subsequently disqualified for interference.
Last out, Be You earned his first career stakes win with a stalking 1 3/4-length score over Doc Sullivan in the seven-furlong Listed Toboggan on February 6.
Pletcher said a focus on one-turn events has benefitted Be You.
“It seems like this is what he wants to do,” Pletcher said. “He's been able to be effective at longer and shorter distances, but I feel like seven furlongs is really his sweet spot.”
Be You worked a half-mile in 49.10 Saturday over the Belmont Park training track.
“He's been doing well in the morning,” said Pletcher, who has won this event previously with Forest Danger [2005], Bishop Court Hill [2006] and Army Mule [2018].
The $320,000 Keeneland September Yearling Sale purchase is out of the graded stakes-winning Congrats mare Jacaranda, who is a half-sister to the Pletcher-trained dual Grade 1-winner and current WinStar Farm stallion Constitution.
Five-time Eclipse Award-winning trainer Chad Brown will saddle the undefeated multiple stakes-winner Rated by Merit [post 5, Manny Franco, 122 pounds], who is a perfect 5-for-5.
St. Elias Stable’s Florida homebred Rated by Merit, in his first start for Brown, made a winning return from a more than 10-month layoff in October at Belmont at the Big A to capture the $125,000 Discovery, a one-turn mile restricted to 3-year-olds yet to have won a graded race at one-mile or over in 2025.
The last-out winning effort, which saw the 4-year-old Battalion Runner colt best stablemate Wise Up by 1 1/4-lengths under returning rider Manny Franco, earned a career-best 106 Beyer. He has trained into this event at Payson Park in Florida, including a half-mile breeze in 49.20 on March 28.
Rated by Merit, who reportedly required time off for bone bruising ahead of the Discovery, made his first four starts as a juvenile in 2024 at Gulfstream Park in the care of trainer Michael Yates. His victories included restricted stakes scores for registered Florida-sired horses in the six-furlong Dr. Fager, the seven-furlong Affirmed and the 1 1/16-mile In Reality.
Rated by Merit is out of the winning Speightstown mare Banner Waving, while his second dam, Freedom Flag, is a half-sister to multiple graded stakes-winning millionaire Revolutionary. His third dam is Grade 1-winner Runup the Colors.
A talented field includes dual graded stakes-placed Quint’s Brew [post 6, Forest Boyce, 122 pounds], who enters from a win in Laurel Park’s Not For Love for trainer Ned Allard; graded stakes-placed Acoustic Ave [post 3, Jose Lezcano, 120 pounds], who is cross-entered in a Thursday optional-claiming event here for trainer Linda Rice; and multiple stakes-winner Point Dume [post 1, Angel Cruz, 122 pounds], who enters from a win in the Listed General George at Laurel Park for trainer Timothy Kreiser.
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