The best of those results came in the Grade 1 Woody Stephens. Book’em Danno, a New Jersey-bred Bucchero gelding, opened up a four-length lead leaving the furlong grounds, which was large enough to hold off late charges from favorite Prince of Monaco and Nutella Fella, the latter of whom broke his maiden last year at Delaware Park.

“Besides getting married and having kids, this is the most exciting thing I can say happened to any of us,” said Jay Briscione, who is managing partner of Atlantic Six Racing, a group of friends, themselves also Jersey-breds, who own Book’em Danno.

It was Book’em Danno’s fifth win in seven outings and first in graded company. He is 5-and-0 at distances of less than one mile and has finished second in two tries at a mile. Credit to trainer Derek Ryan, who made the decision early on that his horse was a one-turn runner and refused to be seduced by the siren song of the Triple Crown.

In Book’em Danno’s birth year, 2021, the New Jersey-bred foal crop numbered just 117 horses, just 0.6% of the national foal crop. With this horse and recent Long Branch Stakes winner Sea Streak, it appears the Garden’s State’s sophomore class is outrunning its odds.

“We wanted a Jersey-bred, and we got one, and he winds up being one of the best Jersey-breds ever,” Briscione said.

His was the biggest Midlantic-bred effort of the weekend but hardly the only good one, nor even the only win. 

On Friday, Maryland-bred Future Is Now and Pennsylvania-bred Roses for Debra delivered an absolute thriller in the grassy, 5 1/2-furlong, Grade 2 Intercontinental.

Future Is Now, trained by Mike Trombetta for owner-breeder Larry Johnson, pressed the early pace under jockey Paco Lopez and in the lane began to inch away from longtime leader Kaufymaker. But just as she began to take charge, Roses for Debra, undefeated in five starts sprinting on the turf versus fillies and the 1-2 favorite, came flying on the outside.

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Future Is Now had just enough to hold off Roses for Debra, winning by a head in 1:01.35.

“I was screaming as loud as I could,” Johnson said afterwards from his Northern Virginia home. “My mind had gone completely blank. This is amazing. Wow.”

Future Is Now paid $22.80 to win – “She should never have been 10-1,” Johnson groused – and topped a Midlantic exacta that returned $25.80 for two dollars.

The day prior brought another Maryland-bred winner. Studlydoright, winner of Maryland’s first two-year-old race open to boys of 2024, confounded the betting public when he rallied late under jockey Xavier Perez to win the Tremont going away. Trained by John Robb for Lori and David Hughes, Studlydoright is now 2-for-2 in his young career.

“I don’t know if I ever thought we’d win a race at Saratoga,” said David Hughes, whose prior foray to the Spa resulted in a last-place finish. “Now we’ve gone from worst to first, and I’m pretty pleased with this.” 

Studlydoright, by Nyquist, was bred in Maryland by Glenangus Farm. The Hugheses went to $110,000 to purchase him at last year’s Fasig-Tipton Midlantic fall yearling sale in Timonium.

“He had really clean lines, and he was just very studly,” said Lori Hughes, who named the horse. “His page was decent, too.”

Of the runner-up efforts, the biggest was Mindframe’s second-place finish in the Belmont. A son of Constitution also bred by Larry Johnson, Repole Stable and St. Elias Stables paid $600,000 to obtain him at the 2022 Keeneland September yearling sale.

Though he didn’t reach the races until the end of March of his three-year-old season, he certainly has hit the ground running. Entering Saturday’s Belmont, he had won his two career starts by a combined total of more than 20 lengths.

In Saturday’s race, he loomed a threat under jockey Irad Ortiz, Jr. and seemed all but certain to go by. But he drifted out under left-handed urging, and the lost ground and momentum were enough to deny him victory. He settled for second, a half-length behind winner Dornoch.

“It verifies what we thought of him,” Pletcher said. “He showed so much talent in those two races, but now we had to test him and see where he fit with the big horses.”

He certainly does fit with the big horses, and it’s not hard to imagine that he could be the best of the bunch later in the year.

Two races before the Belmont, Maryland-bred Post Time made the step up into Grade 1 company with aplomb, finishing second in the Met Mile behind runaway winner National Treasure.

“That was awesome. We are over the moon,” Post Time’s trainer Brittany Russell said. “He showed up [and] he ran big. National Treasure ran a huge race. To run second behind him, that’s success for us.”

Post Time, a four-year-old Frosted colt, was bred by Dr. and Mrs. Thomas Bowman, Dr. Brooke Bowman, and Milton P. Higgins III. An $85,000 yearling at Timonium 2021, he is owned by Ellen Charles’ Hillwood Stable LLC and was ridden by Brittany Russell’s husband Sheldon.

He’s won eight of 11 career starts, two in graded company.

Parx-based trainer Butch Reid also brought several horses to Belmont, and two of them, both Pennsylvania-breds,  made it worth the trip.

In Friday’s Grade 1 New York, Neecie Marie, a four-year-old Cross Traffic filly, outran both her $25,000 auction price and 25-1 odds to finish second under jockey Joel Rosario. She was 1 1/2 lengths behind winner Didia.

“Being Grade 1-placed certainly doesn’t hurt,” Reid, who trains the filly for Michael Milam, said. “It’s her second start back off a layoff after she ran so great the first time. I think her next start will even be better.”

And on Saturday, Ninetyprcentmaddie, a homebred Weigelia filly for LC Racing, finished second at 16-1 odds behind runaway winner Baby Yoda, in the process besting Grade 1 winner and 7-10 favorite Gun Pilot.

All in all, the eight Midlantic-bred runners to finish one-two in stakes at Saratoga this weekend made it quite a memorable weekend, driving home yet again that good horses can, and do, come from anywhere.

“We’ve been coming to the Belmont for 25 years and never ran a race on the Belmont card,” Book’em Danno’s Briscione said. “And this is the first horse we’ve ever run [at Saratoga], in a Grade 1. Luckily, we won.”