Trainer Derek Ryan and Book’em Danno got everything they wanted out of Friday’s $115,000 Jersey Shore Stakes at Monmouth Park — but just barely.

Roused by jockey Samuel Marin as he launched a furious stretch drive, Grade 1 winner Book’em Danno surged at the wire to beat Little Ni by a nose in his final prep before the Grade 1 Allen Jerkens at Saratoga on Aug. 24.

“That’s a nice horse that ran second,” said Ryan. “We got what we wanted out of the race. He had to fight for it today. If all things go well, we’ll be back in Saratoga to run in the Allen Jerkens.”

A gelded New Jersey-bred son of Bucchero owned by Atlantic Six Racing, Book’em Danno improved to 6-for-8 lifetime (with two seconds). Coming off a win in the Grade 1 Woody Stephens at Saratoga on June 8 he went off 1-5 in a reduced field of four 3-year-olds.

The winning time for the six furlongs was 1:09.23.

Little Ni, a Kentucky-bred son of Mohaymen trying stakes company for the first time after starting his career with three straight wins, looked like a winner until Book’em Danno steamrolled through the lane.

“He ran great. He got beat. I don’t know if it was by a better horse,” said trainer Eddie Owens Jr. of Little Ni. “We did all of the work. He ran a winning race except for the last jump.

“We’ll talk to the owners and figure out if we will take him up to Saratoga or if we’ll look for something different. We’ll find something that suits him. As well as he ran it’s disappointing to lose by a nose after a great effort.”

Book’em Danno, who began his career with two straight wins at Monmouth Park, paid $2.40 to win.

But his prospects were not promising when he was fairly well back early on in the race through opening fractions of :22.14 and :44.50.

“He broke well, but what happened is I didn’t want to rush him in the beginning because I know if you ask him he will go, so I didn’t want to rush him,” said Marin, who is now four-for-four aboard Book’em Danno. “I know what kind of horse I have. He was pretty comfortable and I didn’t want to get myself in a bad spot. Little Ni is a good horse.

“The track is really deep and Danno was trying to handle it. If I asked him earlier he would have won easily. Right now, I’m 22, this is the best horse I have ever ridden. Hopefully I get a chance on more like this.”

It was another 5¾ lengths back in third to Buccherino as Book’em Danno and Little Ni seized the moment with a stirring stretch duel.

“We ran good. We just lost on the last jump against a Grade 1 winner,” said jockey Jairo Rendon, the rider of Little Ni. “It was a big race for (Little Ni) and he performed well. We were trying to hold on but (Book’em Danno) is a really good horse, too.

“My horse gave me a good race. I knew he was going to run big today too. It would have been really tough to beat that horse but we almost did it.”