SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – In eight of Renegade (Into Mischief)'s nine career races, he has had the steady hands of jockey Irad Ortiz, Jr. guiding him.The band got broken up when Ortiz's Saratoga season was cut short when he was knocked out with a bruised left foot. That meant an audible had to be called by Hall of Fame trainer Todd Pletcher.He needed to get a new partner for Renegade for Saturday's Grade I, $1.25-million Travers Stakes. Enter Tyler Gaffalione. The 31-year-old rider has been handed the reins by Pletcher to get the 3-1 second choice on the morning line to the winner's circle.“When you have someone like Irad who is familiar with the horse and knows him, obviously you don't want to make a change,” Pletcher said outside his barn at the Oklahoma Training Track. “Tyler is an experienced, seasoned veteran and is certainly capable of giving you a great ride.”Gaffalione rode at Charles Town in West Virginia Friday night and was scheduled to fly back to Saratoga with other Spa riders, including Manny Franco, Luis Saez and Ricardo Santana, Jr. They all have a mount in the Travers.Saturday will be Gaffalione's last day at Saratoga this summer as he will head to Kentucky Downs to ride on Sunday. He was originally scheduled to ride at Kentucky Downs on Saturday but that changed when the Renegade opportunity came up.Gaffalione is in seventh place in the Saratoga jockey standings with 19 wins. He has never won the Travers. None of his four mounts hit the board.“I am sure Tyler has talked to Irad and has discussed some things about the horse,” Matt Muzikar, Gaffalione's agent, said Friday. “Tyler is excited for the opportunity, excited to ride for Todd and Mike (co-owner Repole).”Pletcher said he will sit down with Gaffalione and give him as much information about Renegade as he can.“But at the end of the day you have to have confidence in these guys,” he said. “I am sure he is familiar with the horse to begin with, and I am sure he is watching films.”Pletcher has confidence in the horse, who is coming off a stirring last-to-first win in the GII Jim Dandy Stakes. He is also confident Gaffalione will be an able substitute. He does feel for Ortiz.“It stinks for him,” Pletcher said. “To be doing as well as he was doing and be forced to the sidelines. He is disappointed that he is out for a while and disappointed he is missing the ride.”Book'em Danno Looking for Another Saratoga VictoryAt 8:30 Friday morning, Book'em Danno (Bucchero) stepped off the horse trailer and into his temporary digs at the Sanford Barn on Nelson Avenue across from Clare Court. It will be a short stay for the popular 5-year-old gelding who has made it a habit of winning races.Derek Ryan feeds Book'em Danno a carrot after arriving at Saratoga | Sarah AndrewHe will make his 20th career start in Saturday's GI, $500,000 Forego, a seven-furlong sprint. When it's over, trainer Derek Ryan is hoping Book'em Danno will have his 13th career win and a continued dominance over the Saratoga oval.Book'em Danno, owned by Atlantic Six Racing LLC, has won five of his six starts at Saratoga, all of them graded stakes. Saturday, he goes for No. 6.“He is still going strong,” Ryan said Friday morning. “He always shows up. I would be very disappointed if he didn't win. You hate to say it, but he is training better this year than he was last year.”Book'em Danno will again be ridden by Paco Lopez, his partner for the last eight races (six wins). The Forego, a race he won last year, will be his fourth start of the year.He has won two of them, including the GIII True North at Saratoga on Belmont Stakes Day. His only loss came in the GII Carter at Aqueduct Apr. 4, a race he lost by a neck in his first start since last year's Forego.Book'em Danno won four of five starts last year and won the Eclipse Award for champion male sprinter. He did not run in the Breeders' Cup last season, this year he will.“We do the right thing by him all the time,” Ryan said. “He gets a break every winter.”In his last seven wins, Book'em Danno's margin of victory has been a combined 9 1/2 lengths. His most lopsided victories, if you want to call them that, have been by 2 1/2 lengths twice. He won a handicap at Colonial in March of 2025 and the GII Alfred G. Vanderbilt last year.“He knows how to win, he knows where the wire is,” Ryan said. “He is a hard knocking horse, a hard tryer and he gets it done.”Following this year's Breeders' Cup, don't expect to see Book'em Danno–named for the popular catchphrase from the television show “Hawaii Five-O” (1968-1980)–head for retirement.Ryan figures the big horse is just getting started.“Hell no,” Ryan said with a laugh when retirement was mentioned. “He's only five and he's lightly raced. We have a lot more to do … touch wood, as they say.”Travers Day Always Brings Back Fond Memories for RomansOn Aug. 29, 2015, at around 8 p.m., cars stopped on Union Avenue. Trainer Dale Romans caused the traffic jam as he was walking down the street wearing the blanket that an hour before had been placed across the back of the Keen Ice (Curlin), the upset winner of the GI Travers Stakes.2015 Travers Stakes | Sarah Andrew“We were going over to Jerry Crawford's (owner, Donegal Racing) house and everyone on the road wanted a picture,” Romans said Friday morning on the Saratoga backstretch as he reminisced about that day.That upset was not just any old upset. When Keen Ice won the Midsummer Derby at odds of 16-1, he took down the mighty American Pharoah (Pioneerof the Nile), the first Triple Crown winner since 1978.A capped crowd of 50,000 jammed into the Spa and anticipated a Pharoah cinch in the Travers. Romans and Crawford and jockey Javier Castellano had other ideas.“At the draw, I got up and thanked NYRA (New York Racing Association) for limiting the number of people that were going to boo me,” Romans said with a laugh.Keen Ice had tipped himself when he finished second behind American Pharoah in the GI Haskell Stakes four weeks earlier. The margin was just 2 1/4 lengths.When Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert brought American Pharoah to Saratoga, it was a carnival atmosphere, especially the morning before the race when 20,000 people showed up to watch him gallop.Romans has won big races in his career–the GI Whitney Stakes and G1 Dubai World Cup (Roses in May, the Preakness Stakes (Shackleford), the GI Arlington Million and GI Breeders' Cup Turf (Little Mike) just to name a few.But that last Saturday in August of 2015 will always be a special memory for Romans and his family.“I've won a lot of big races, but that was by far the most historic,” Romans said. “They are all big in their own right, but that is the one people always talk about.”When it was over, Romans did not get booed like he had predicted at the draw. People cheered for the horse as he walked up the track even though they were likely shocked to see American Pharoah lose.Romans did not go to the press conference or the trophy presentation. He walked up the track with the horse.“(The late Hall of Fame trainer) LeRoy Jolley was standing right where we are now and gave me a big hug and said, 'Welcome to the Travers club,'” Romans said. “That meant a lot.”Keen Ice finished his career with three wins in 24 starts. He stands at Rancho San Jose in Mexico after being sold and relocated from Calumet Farm, which eventually co-owned him with Donegal Racing.The post Saratoga Notebook, presented by NYRA Bets: Pletcher Confident Gaffalione Can Get Renegade Home in Travers appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.