Faith in Million Entrant Bookrunner Paying Off for His Owners

Bookmaker (above) will try to deliver a memorable victory for his owners-breeders in the Arlington Million Stakes on Saturday at Arlington Park. (All photos by Melissa Bauer-Herzog)
When Take the Ribbon’s owners planned to breed her to Tiznow it’s unlikely they planned on ending up at the Arlington Million with the resulting foal, Bookrunner.
Today, Bookrunner still runs for those breeders under the ownership name of Papillon Stables and Tony Chedraoui. He is from the first group of racehorses Papillon Stables sent over to Europe, a group of two in 2013 that included Bookrunner and a Malibu Moon filly.
“Bookrunner is a big horse but he’s got some turf aspects to him as well, so we thought he would be able to handle it. His mom was a very good turf horse, and we kind of feel the female line does have some say in what surface they go on. We’ve also sent a Kitten’s Joy as well, which is a little bit more obvious to try,” said Tanya Gunther, one of the owners of Papillon Stable. “It’s nice to be able to be able to try to compete with the best, learn something and hopefully be good enough. … Horses are allowed to be horses over there too, it’s a little easier. The way American tracks are, it’s just difficult for them to provide acres and acres of beautiful gallops and things. It was an experiment.”
Bookrunner thrived in Europe, representing them well. He won his first race by five lengths at Chantilly in November 2013 as a 2-year-old. In his 3-year-old debut, he finished fourth in the Group 3 Prix Djebel to multiple Group 1 winner Charm Spirit, but he was only a neck away from winning the race with the first four horses only separated by a nose each.
2014 PRIX DJEBEL (Bookrunner in shadow roll)

Video courtesy of Chaîne Equidia
That convinced his ownership group and trainer Mikel Delzangles to send him to that year’s Quipco Two Thousand Guineas in England, but he finished 11th in the race. However, just running in the Two Thousan Guineas was a big highlight for Gunther.
“If I had to sum up why we chose to race in Europe it would be partly because of the great turf bloodlines and racing. First we sent mares to Europe to access top stallions, and then the training facilities ... focus on turf racing in Europe and so on. Having a horse from our farm in the Two Thousan Guineas was a big highlight, even though it was not his best race,” she said.
Bookrunner came back a few months later to win an allowance race by a length in France. After a virus and a few other issues popped up for Bookrunner, he had to skip the rest of the year and didn’t get back to the starting gate until 10 months later in an allowance that he won by a head.
“We’ve always had a lot of faith in him, we had a few setbacks last year. There was a virus in the yard, so we didn’t get to show as much as we felt that he could do last year, but hopefully we have a chance to do that this year,” Gunther said. “His comeback race at the beginning of this year was pretty exciting because he’d been off for a while. When a horse comes back off of a layoff and shows heart and wins, even though it wasn’t a big race, it was rewarding to get back in action after a layoff.”
BOOKMAKER GALLOPING AT ARLINGTON

Bookrunner finished third by two lengths in the Group 3 Prix Messidor in his last prep before the Arlington Million to multiple group stakes winner Fractional and listed stakes winner Faufiler at a mile over turf. Gunther admits the Arlington Million will be a big step up for Bookrunner. His only start longer than a mile was in his debut in 2013, but his connections believe that the 1 ¼ miles of the Arlington Million will suit him.
As a horse who has mostly raced on firm turf in Europe, the firmer turf at Arlington and the more predictable weather was also a big factor in bringing Bookrunner here instead of other options he had in Europe. The 4-year-old has settled well into Arlington Park, although he did have a bit of a problem upon landing in Chicago last Sunday.
“I only arrived [Friday morning], but he seems very happy,” Gunther said. “They said he took the plane ride very well, ate, drank, and all the things he needed to do and was calm. However, just before landing or right after landing he somehow got in a kerfuffle with himself and he got some cuts and so forth, so he got a few war wounds but he seems fine now.”
BOOKRUNNER AT ARLINGTON

Other than having some marks on his head, Bookrunner appeared to enjoy himself on the track this week with no ill effects from his eventful landing. For Gunther, just being here is special because she planned the breeding of his parents and was there for his foaling as well.
“He’s a special horse to me; he has such a personality,” she said. “He’s like part-human to me. He was raised on our farm, so I was there when he foaled. When you see them all the way through it’s quite a journey and you worry about them for a long time just being in the horse business. It’s pretty exciting to get from the idea of the mating to several years later. The first year we sent horses to Europe, we only sent two and he was one of them so that’s kind of exciting.” 
There are no concrete plans for Bookrunner after Saturday’s race with the team letting him dictate where he will go next. But if he can cross the finish line in front in the Arlington Million, it will be the culmination of the dream the Gunthers had when they saw him take his first steps just a few years ago. 
$1-million Arlington Million StakesSaturday, Arlington Park, Race 10, 6:48 p.m. ET1 ¼ miles, turf, 3-year-olds and older 

PP

Horse

Jockey

Trainer

Owner

ML Odds

1

Up With the Birds

Drayden Van Dyke

Graham Motion

Sam-Son Farm

12-1

2

Slumber

Irad Ortiz Jr.

Chad Brown

Michael Dubb, Sheep Pond Partners and Bethlehem Stables

7-2

3

Bookrunner

Gerald Mosse

Mikel Delzangles

Papillon Stables and Tony Chedraoui

15-1

4

Big Blue Kitten

Joe Bravo

Chad Brown

Ken and Sarah Ramsey

3-1

5

Wake Forest

Eduardo Pedroza

Andreas Wohler

Klaus Allofs and Gestut Fahrhof

12-1

6

Legendary

Sheldon Russell

Niall Saville

Walter R. Swinburn

15-1

7

The Pizza Man

Florent Geroux

Roger Brueggemann

Midwest Thoroughbreds

10-1

8

Quiet Force

Robby Albarado

Mike Maker

Warner Thoroughbreds

15-1

9

Shining Copper

Chris Emigh

Chad Brown

Ken and Sarah Ramsey

30-1

10

Triple Threat

Jose Lezcano

Bill Mott

Team Valor International and Gary Barber

6-1

11

Maverick Wave

William Buick

John Gosden

Godolphin Racing

8-1

12

Elleval

Patrick Smullen

David Marnane

Damian Lavelle

30-1

13

Belgian Bill

Jamie Spencer

George Baker

PJL (George Baker)

30-1