Captain Cook

St. Elias Stable's 'TDN Rising Star' Captain Cook (Practical Joke) breezed a half-mile in :49 (14/79) Wednesday over the Belmont Park dirt training track as he prepares for the GII Wood Memorial S. at Aqueduct Apr. 5. Trained by Rick Dutrow, Jr., the bay was completing his sixth workout since capturing the nine-furlong Listed Withers Feb. 1. "It was mostly maintenance," said Blake Dutrow, Dutrow Jr.'s nephew and Belmont-based assistant. "He's ready so we are just trying to keep him happy and stay out of his way, because we feel...

Whether you consider it just a random squeaking of the hamster wheel, or evidence of some latent order awaiting our discovery, these Thoroughbreds certainly know how to make us stop and think about the strange operation of life. Last Friday it was announced that Miss Macy Sue (Trippi) had died at 22. The very next day, her son Liam's Map produced a Derby contender in GIII Holy Bull Stakes winner Burnham Square. The 20 starting points banked there, moreover, matched those earned two weeks previously in the GIII Lecomte Stakes...

The first Saturdays in February, March and April are stacked with points-awarding prep races for the GI Kentucky Derby. It's unusual, though, for all of the coast-to-coast stakes on any one of those weekends to yield three emphatic or impactful performances. But the trio of preps on Feb. 1 produced three intriguing winners who all figure to be "horses of interest" moving forward. The victories Saturday by Citizen Bull (Into Mischief) in the GIII Robert B. Lewis Stakes at Santa Anita, 'TDN Rising Star' Captain Cook (Practical Joke) in the...

St. Elias Stable's Captain Cook (Practical Joke), winner of Saturday's Withers Stakes at the Big A, is expected to make his next start in the GII Wood Memorial Apr. 5, according to trainer Rick Dutrow Jr. Sunday. The Wood awards the top-five finishers 100-50-25-15-10 Kentucky Derby points, respectively. "He's got a big step forward next time when we run him back in the Wood, but he's got plenty of time and we love that--so does he," Dutrow, Jr. said. "He'll be running back over a track he's won two races...

'TDN Rising Star' Captain Cook (Practical Joke), a 9 1/4-length maiden winner going seven furlongs in the Aqueduct slop Dec. 28, delivered as the 7-5 favorite stretching to 1 1/8 miles in Saturday's downgraded Withers Stakes at the Big A, good for 20 points on the road to the GI Kentucky Derby. Longshot Surfside Moon (Malibu Moon) was second. Omaha Omaha (Audible) was third. The 7-5 favorite sat a tracking trip in an outside third, revved up three deep on the far turn and took care of business from there...

Billed as a showdown between the classy Mufasa (Chi) (Practical Joke) and the 2023 GI Breeders' Cup Classic winner White Abarrio (Race Day), Gulfstream Park's Saturday feature, the GIII Mr. Prospector Stakes at seven furlongs, didn't disappoint. Mufasa got a perfect stalking trip which turned into a resounding win, while White Abarrio was slow out of the gate and trailed early before making a late run that couldn't quite catch Mufasa in the stretch. Little Vic (Practical Joke), the 2023 GIII Tom Fool Handicap winner, was third. Winner of the...

Captain Cook (c, 2, Practical Joke--Pow Wow Wow, by Indian Charlie), an eventful sixth on debut for owner/breeder Marylou Whitney Stables and trainer Norm Casse at Churchill Downs Oct. 27, brought $410,000 from bloodstock agent Steve Young on behalf of St Elias Stable at the Keeneland November Horses of Racing Age Sale (second-most expensive lot of the sale) and ran to the money as the 1-2 favorite for his new connections with a 'TDN Rising Star' performance in the slop at the Big A Saturday. Captain Cook chased the early...

The 2-year-old filly Alyeska (Vekoma), an eye-catching, come-from-behind debut winner carrying the famed Marylou Whitney silks at Churchill Downs Sept. 20, brought a sale-topping $675,000 from bloodstock agent Steve Young at Keeneland's single-session November Horses of Racing Age sale Thursday, which produced substantial across-the-board increases. Fellow Marylou Whitney homebred and the once-raced 2-year-old colt Captain Cook (Practical Joke), a troubled sixth on debut beneath the Twin Spires Oct. 27, was also purchased by Young for $410,000, the second-most expensive lot of the day. The duo were both previously trained by...