Trainer Derek Ryan was noncommittal about Book’em Danno’s participation in the Breeders’ Cup World Championships, but he’s such a cool horse that he’s worth a closer look regardless of where he makes his final start of the 2025 season.

America’s Best Racing is exploring leading contenders for the 14 races that comprise the Breeders’ Cup World Championships. This week we evaluate Book’em Danno after he an expenses-paid starting spot in the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile Nov. 1 at Del Mar with a one-length win in the $500,000 Forego Stakes Aug. 23 at Saratoga Race Course.

Ryan told NYRA that Book’em Danno’s sixth and final race of the year will come in one of the following races: the $250,000 Vosburgh Stakes Sept. 27 at Belmont at the Big A, the $400,000 Stoll Keenon Ogden Phoenix Stakes Oct. 3 at Keeneland, or the six-furlong Breeders’ Cup Sprint, also Nov. 1 at Del Mar. Should they opt for the $2 million Sprint, the connections of Book’em Danno can apply the “Win and You’re In” Challenge Series benefits earned from the Forego toward the Sprint rather than the Dirt Mile.

Accomplishments: Consistency has been a hallmark of Book’em Danno from the start. He’s won 10 of his 16 career starts and his only two unplaced finishes came when he was fourth, beaten by a neck in a wild finish in the Grade 1 Churchill Downs Stakes Presented by Ford in May, and last December when fifth in the Grade 2 Cigar Mile Handicap Presented by TwinSpires, a race that was beyond his ideal distance.

Simply put, Book’em Danno brings it every time he competes. He won a pair of stakes as a 2-year-old, earned his first graded stakes win last June at Saratoga in the Grade 1 Woody Stephens Stakes, and this summer swept through three graded stakes sprints at Saratoga.

The Bucchero gelding won the 6 ½-furlong True North Stakes by 1 ¼ lengths June 7 on a sloppy track and the six-furlong Alfred G. Vanderbilt Stakes by 2 ½ lengths July 19 before the Aug. 23 Forego.

Book’em Danno appeared to really have his work cut out for him after tracking within a length of a swift half-mile in :44.85, but he dug in determinedly in the stretch and completed his final furlong in :13.03 under Paco Lopez for a one-length win.

“It’s the competitive nature,” Ryan said when asked what makes Book’em Danno special. “He doesn’t have a pedigree, he’s not a pretty mover – he’s just a racehorse. You’d never think it watching him training every day, he just plods around there.”

Speed Figures: Book’em Danno entered the Forego off a pair of monster efforts in terms of speed figures, earning a career-best 119 Equibase Speed Figure for the True North and a 115 for the Vanderbilt. He likewise earned a career-top 106 Beyer Speed Figure for the True North, then improved it by five points to a 111 for the Vanderbilt. The speed figures for the Forego – 100 Equibase Speed Figure, 98 Beyer – indicate that he did not have his “A” game and still beat a terrific group of sprinters at seven furlongs.

“I was a little bit afraid because he ran such a big race the time before that he might regress a little bit, which I think he did,” Ryan said. “But he’s such a game horse he found a way to get it done.”

Book'em Danno and Derek Ryan. (Sean Collins/BloodHorse)

Looking Ahead: After three races in 11 weeks, Book’em Danno looks like a racehorse who would benefit from a brief freshening. For that reason, I think training up to the Breeders’ Cup Sprint would be a great option. He’s absolutely fast enough to win the race and he has the tactical speed to stalk and pounce, which has been very important in the Sprint over the last 25-plus years. Last year’s Breeders’ Cup Sprint winner, Straight No Chaser, followed the trend as he was 1 ½ lengths off the pace after a half-mile.

Sure, Book’em Danno could win the Vosburgh in five weeks or the Phoenix in six weeks, but with 10 weeks between the Forego and the Breeders’ Cup Sprint he would have the chance to recover from a busy and productive summer and take on the best sprinters in the world rested and talented enough to win. He’s a 4-year-old gelding with lots of racing to look forward to, so I completely understand and respect whatever decision Ryan and owners Atlantic Six Racing make for his final start of 2025. If it comes in the Breeders’ Cup Sprint, Book’em Danno is a big-time win contender.