Bucchero

The 2025 GI Breeders' Cup Sprint will not include what may be the best sprinter in training. Trainer Derek Ryan announced Saturday that his star New Jersey-bred Book 'em Danno (Bucchero) is done for the year. Ryan had never fully committed to the Breeders' Cup, saying it was "50-50" in previous interviews. The story was first reported by the Paulick Report. "We've decided to wind it up for the year," Ryan said. "I think he's done enough. He's had a hard and tough campaign. Look what he did at Saratoga...

Jay Briscione, one of the six owners that make up Atlantic Six Racing, knows how lucky he has been. Some two years ago he and his partners privately bought a Jersey-bred son of Bucchero (Kantharos) out of a mare named Adorabella (Ghostzapper). At the time, Bucchero was an unproven sire and Adorabella never made it to the races. Briscione admits all he was looking for was a horse who could win New Jersey-bred races at Monmouth. What he got was a winning lottery ticket named Book'em Danno. It's been quite...

After being a frequent face in the graded ranks since last April, class relief in the Listed Osunitas Stakes at Del Mar provided Medoro (Honor Code) with her moment in the sun as she rolled by runners late to score. Twice placed at the elite level, the Honor Code filly was last seen Dec. 25 in the GI American Oaks where she ran third behind MGISW She Feels Pretty (Karakontie {Jpn}) and GISP Kathrynmarissa (American Pharoah). Before that she'd missed winning Santa Anita's GIII Autumn Miss Stakes by a nose...

Saratoga's GII Alfred G. Vanderbilt Handicap, downgraded for 2025, featured a rematch of the June 7 GIII True North Stakes between Book'em Danno (g, 4, Bucchero--Adorabella, by Ghostzapper) and Mullikin (Violence), who finished one-two last month over this surface, and Nakatomi (Firing Line), who had been fifth. All three showed up in a big way Saturday to fill out the trifecta with fan-favorite Book'em Danno on top once again. Book'em Danno's biggest career win (the 2024 GI Woody Stephens Stakes), his biggest career Beyer (the 104 he registered when third...

Winner of last year's GI Woody Stephens Stakes on this program and very game third in the GI H. Allen Jerkens Stakes, Book'em Danno (Bucchero) made the most of his third trip to Saratoga with a stalk and grind-it-out defeat of fellow elite-level winner Mullikin (Violence) in a high-class renewal of the GIII True North Stakes Saturday afternoon. The 23-10 second choice--about $5,000 behind favored Nakatomi (Firing Line), Book'em Danno left gate five without incident and was content to lay third through the opening exchanges, as Concrete Glory (Bodemeister) set...

4th-CD, $120k, Msw, 2yo, 5 1/2f, 2:13p.m. ET Leaving the four hole on this unveiling as the most expensive auction buy in the race, CANNONEER (Into Mischief) will be carrying the colors of the partnership of St Elias and Stonestreet Stables. A $1.75-million purchase last year at KEESEP, the son of top sire Into Mischief claims a fleet of accomplished half-siblings, most notable being the late GSW & MGISP Midnight Bourbon (Tiznow) and sire GISW Girvin (Tale of Ekati). Also in dam Catch the Moon (Malibu Moon)'s family portrait is...

7th-Colonial Downs, $100,000, (R), Hcp, 3-14, 4yo/up, 7f, 1:20.03, ft, 2 1/2 lengths. BOOK'EM DANNO (g, 4, Bucchero--Adorabella, by Ghostzapper) was clearly the showstopper here as the field scratched down to just three from 11 horses, and he made his 2025 bow a winning one. Last seen running fifth in a salty GII Cigar Mile Handicap Dec. 7, he'd been winless since claiming the Listed Jersey Shore Stakes by a nose in mid-July at Monmouth Park. He'd hit the board in the GIII Perryville and GI H. Allen Jerkens Memorial...

Queen Maxima, featured earlier this week on these pages and last seen Jan. 23 registering a facile 3 1/2-length score versus allowance company on the downhill turf course here, put forth a similar display over a sixteenth shorter in her return to stakes competition in Saturday's Wishing Well Stakes at Santa Anita. Second last Sept. 28 in the Unzip Me Stakes to Toupie (Uncle Mo), who proved victorious in the GIII Las Cienegas Stakes Jan. 19, Queen Maxima, sent off at 3-10, drubbed her five foes after biding her time...

For about a decade and a half, Mike Pender punched well above his weight as a trainer on the ultra-competitive Southern California circuit, winning Grade I races with modestly bred and moderately priced runners like Ultimate Eagle (Mizzen Mast) and Jeranimo (Congaree), each acquired for $70,000 out of the breeze-up sales on behalf of his client B.J. Wright. About a year after saddling Lombo (Graydar) to an 8-1 upset in the 2018 GIII Robert B. Lewis Stakes, Pender switched gears and entered the bloodstock arena, but without the same level...

Bucchero (Kantharos), whose half-dozen stakes winners to date include GI Woody Stephens Stakes hero Book'em Danno, will be available for inspection at an open house at Ironhorse Stallions on Dec. 13 at 58 Dunn Road, Stillwater, New York, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. The only New York-based stallion to be represented by a Grade I winner this season and the current leading stallion in the state by progeny earnings, Bucchero is the sire of 100 individual winners, including Beauty of the Sea, successful three times in stakes company and...

Bucchero (Kantharos), who is represented this year by GI Woody Stephens Stakes winner Book'em Danno, will stand the 2025 breeding season at Ironhorse Stallions which will be based out of Questroyal North, the former Sez Who Farm. Bucchero will be the first stallion to stand under the Ironhorse Stallions banner, a full-circle moment as it was the syndicate of Ironhorse Racing Stable who first purchased him as a 2-year-old and campaigned him through his 31-race career. After five seasons in Florida where he covered 471 mares, Bucchero stood last season...

34-year-old trainer Matt Sims, who recorded his first stakes win Saturday with 28-1 longshot Brunacini (Dortmund) in the GIII Perryville Stakes at Keeneland, is already looking for a second with his upset runner before the winter season. "He looks good this morning, and he wasn't tired after the race," said Sims, who will split the winter between racing at Turfway Park and Oaklawn Park. "[We're] looking at the Cherokee Mile at Churchill Downs Dec. 1." Meanwhile, Perryville favorite Book'em Danno (Bucchero) had to settle for second Saturday after a tricky...