Atlantic Six Racing received an offer for Book’em Danno last season when he was a 3-year-old, a proposition so substantial it led each partner to take a deep breath and assess his priorities.

While partner Jim Scappi did not reveal the amount, he made it clear it was massive. “We got offered so much money,” he said, “we’ll never make it back.”

As tempting as the potential payday was, Scappi made a point to other members of the modest partnership that ruled the day. “Guys,” he said, “there’s nothing in life you can do that is this much fun.”

Little did they know when they decided to retain all of the New Jersey-bred gelding that the fun was just beginning. Their reported $30,000 private purchase of the son of Bucchero out of the mare Adorabella has emerged as a speedster who may be without equal.

Briscione (left) and Rubenstein (right) lead ‘Danno’. (Anne M. Eberhardt/BloodHorse)

Book’em Danno became a summer sensation in sweeping three salty races at Saratoga Race Course – the Grade 3 True North Stakes on June 7, the Grade 2 Alfred G. Vanderbilt Stakes on July 19 and the Grade 1 Forego Stakes on Aug. 23.

When trainer Derek Ryan was asked if he thinks he has the nation’s premier sprinter in his Monmouth Park barn, he replied, “Why wouldn’t I? What’s better than the three races at Saratoga?”

Book’em Danno took the 6 ½-furlong True North by a length and a quarter when he blew past Mullikin with a late rush on a soggy track. He overcame a bobble and bump at the start to control the six-furlong Vanderbilt by 2 ½ lengths. He withstood Scotland’s furious charge to capture the Forego by a length at seven furlongs.

According to Scappi, three partners approached him after the Forego to shake his hand and deliver the same message. “Thank you for talking us into not selling.”

No one anticipated that Book’em Danno – named by partner Mark Rubenstein for the signature line in the old crime-fighting television show Hawaii Five-O – would ever be so fast.

“Just to make those three races is hard enough,” Ryan said, “let alone winning those three.”

There was nothing in Danno’s pedigree to suggest he was capable of such a trifecta. Bucchero stood for $5,000 when Adorabella, an unraced mare, was sent to him. And there is certainly nothing in the sprinter’s conformation.

“He’s not a pretty mover,” Ryan said. “He wouldn’t be ticking all the boxes at a sale, put it that way. He would be ticking no boxes.”

Jay Briscione, Atlantic Six’s managing partner, finds himself constantly in awe of a burner that blew away their expectations. The initial aim of the New Jersey-based partnership of friends and business acquaintances was to capitalize on thin state-bred ranks with a runner capable of going through his allowance conditions against that competition.

Briscione asks Ryan all the time what separates Danno from the swift company he keeps. His answer: “Heart and mind.”

Derek Ryan (Walter Wlodarczyk/NYRA)

That has been a lethal combination, leading to 10 victories in 16 starts with three seconds and a third for earnings of $1,855,425. Wins have come at Monmouth, Aqueduct, Tampa Bay Downs, Colonial Downs and Saratoga.

Danno failed to hit the board twice. He wound up fifth when asked to go beyond his optimal distance in the Cigar Mile Handicap Presented by Twinspires.com last December at Aqueduct. He missed by a neck for the whole thing in taking fourth behind Mindframe, Banishing, and Nysos in the Grade 1 Churchill Downs Stakes Presented by Ford as part of the Kentucky Derby Presented by Woodford Reserve undercard.

Those who wish to see Danno’s immense heart need only watch him compete. If he can will himself to the finish line first, well, he will. As for his mind, Ryan said, “He knows what to do and when to do it.”

As special as Danno is, so is the handling of him. Despite his odd way of going, the gelding has thrived under Ryan’s care. The trainer thinks long and hard before selecting each race.

“There are trainers and there are horsemen. Today, not every trainer is a horseman,” Briscione said. “Derek is a horseman and he’s a trainer and he’s done an absolutely fantastic job with this horse. You look at the consistency this horse has had since his 2-year-old year and it’s phenomenal.”

The addition of Paco Lopez to the team has been huge. It was important to Ryan that he have a jockey willing to work Danno to get to know him as much as possible and someone who would commit to riding him whenever and wherever he started. They have not looked back since Lopez signed on.

Danno is to be given one more start this season. Ryan, after initially ruling out the Nov. 1 Breeders’ Cup Sprint at Del Mar as he eyes a long career for the gelding, put that race back on the table as one of several options.

Wherever and however Danno’s memorable season ends, his emergence reminds everyone that there is room in the Sport of Kings for those neither rich nor famous.

“If you are going to get out of the game, you should stay in because of a horse like Book’em Danno,” Briscione said. “And if you’re going to get in the game, you get in because of a horse like Danno. You don’t need to spend a million dollars.”

Get together a group of friends, spend $30,000 or so on a horse that may not look the part, and the experience can be priceless.