Book’Em Danno returns home for Mr. Prospector Stakes at Monmouth Park

Book’Em Danno will return to the track where his career began when he starts in Friday’s $200,000 Mr. Prospector Stakes at Monmouth Park. The New Jersey-bred gelding is unbeaten in three starts at Monmouth.

Monmouth Park designated July 17 as Book’em Danno Day, with the first 2,000 paid admissions receiving a commemorative T-shirt and free admission for Oceanport, New Jersey, residents. The track also will show replays of his biggest wins throughout the day. Book’em Danno won on debut at Monmouth on Aug. 12, 2023, added the Smoke Glacken Stakes four weeks later and later captured the 2024 Jersey Shore Stakes at the same oval.

Under the race’s conditions, the purse doubles from $100,000 to $200,000 when a multiple Grade 1 winner starts. From the rail out, the field is Silver Slugger, Quint’s Brew, Book’em Danno, Go Irish, Durante, Banishing, Boardwalk Jack, Doroteo and Full Moon Madness. That lineup includes millionaires Banishing and Durante, along with graded stakes winner Full Moon Madness.

The 5-year-old gelded son of Bucchero out of Adorabella by Ghostzapper has compiled career earnings of $2,135,425, gone 11-for-18, and banked five graded stakes and nine black-type stakes. He returned this year with a neck loss in the Grade 2 Carter Stakes before rebounding in the Grade 2 True North at Saratoga Race Course, where he beat Bentornato by three-quarters of a length in 1:14.79 for 6 1/2 furlongs. Derek Ryan said after the True North, “Maybe we'll put this to bed now. Tired of hearing about Bentornato.”

John F. Heims, Monmouth Park’s general manager, called the showcase “a full-circle moment” because “this is where it all started for Book’em Danno.” Book’em Danno enters ranked eighth in the National Thoroughbred Racing Association Top Thoroughbred Poll while Magnitude sits atop the list.