Mon, June, 2024
By Alan Carasso
Following a 12 3/4-length victory by New Jersey-bred Book’em Danno (Bucchero) in the seven-furlong Pasco S. at Tampa on seasonal debut back in January, trainer Derek Ryan got social media all fired up by almost blasphemously suggesting that a trip down the Triple Crown trail–one he’d traversed before with Musket Man (Yonaguska)–was not necessarily an appropriate course to chart for his trainee.
“I have no Derby dreams,” Ryan told TDN’s Bill Finley at the time. “I think the Derby is overrated, but that’s just me. We were never really considering the Derby trail. You put the horse under alot of pressure.”
“Kind of bummed that the best Jersey-bred 3yo in years won’t point towards the first Saturday in May,” lamented another apparently frustrated observer.