00:00My name is Mark Rubenstein and I'm a part-time groom of Bookum Dana. I guess it was at Colonial
00:10Downs, his first race of the year, and our trainer, Derek Ryan, didn't have a good groom,
00:15and he knew I'm handy around the barn, and he asked me if I wanted to run him, and something
00:22I hadn't done in probably 50 years, take a horse over the races, but it's all muscle memory. I
00:28knew how to do it, so I said sure, and I've been running him ever since. I started off maybe in 1969,
00:36a long time ago, walking hots at the racetrack, and I graduated to groom. I was living in a tack room,
00:45and making not too much money, working seven days a week, and I loved every minute of it,
00:51and then I got to the point where I just got into the family business, but while I was in the family
00:58business, I put some partnerships together. Fast forward to maybe six, seven years ago, my friend,
01:05Jay Bruzione, he asked me if I was interested in coming back in and, you know, for a piece of a
01:11horse that he was going to buy a yearling, and I said sure. That became a horse called counterfeit
01:17currency. He made us a couple hundred thousand, and then we parlayed that money into Bookum Dana.
01:23First day at the track, went out there, relaxed as could be, and to this day, there's really nothing,
01:29nothing gets to him. He's all business. Race day, professional, just sitting, standing in a
01:34stall head, just getting his game face on. We knew we have a nice horse, but just to have him do what
01:40he's done. Up here, three graded stakes, a grade one, a grade two, and a grade three, that's off the
01:46wall. Bookum Dano trying to split rivals, as most wanted has come to take the lead. Bishop's Bay.
01:52I don't think there was really a moment in that race where I was really, really worried. When he
01:58nailed those two speed horses, I knew that was it. Bookum Dano takes the lead. Scotland's coming with
02:04lift in every stride. Bookum Dano, Scotland. Bookum Dano. What a summer. It's a real trip. It's just
02:13taking, especially at Saratoga, you know, and him winning. I mean, just the, the adoration you feel
02:19when you're walking back after the race, people on the, in the grandstand. Dano, Dano, Dano. I know
02:24he's a very popular horse, but just that was a quarter mile of people just loving him. I'm basically a
02:32racetracker. That was, that's how I would define myself. And this is being in the barn. That's
02:36where I want to be. It all ties into my great racetrack grooming roots. That's what I want
02:42to do is to, you know, to run them as opposed to standing over there and in the paddock and
02:47just watching and, you know, hanging out.
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