After winning over a sloppy, sealed track by 9 ¼ lengths in his second start, Captain Cook is the slight 5-2 favorite for Saturday’s $200,000 Withers Stakes (G3) at Aqueduct.
“He ran big. We were very, very happy with his race,” Dutrow said. “That is why we are pointing him to a big race now, because he was very impressive with what we saw from him.”
Captain Cook stalked the pace in the 7-furlong maiden race at Aqueduct on Dec. 28, was taken seven wide heading into the stretch and rolled to victory in his second career start.
The big question is whether the son of Practical Joke can win at the Withers distance of 1 1/8 miles, and hold off a closer like 4-1 Omaha Omaha, and fellow stalkers Uncle Jim and Mo Quality, each at 3-1.
“We are willing to try it. He won going seven-eighths and ran big, so we are looking forward to it,” Dutrow, Jr. said. “He is leading us to believe that he will be able to do it.”
Manny Franco has the call again, leaving from post 6.
The Withers is one of three Derby preps on Saturday (the Holy Bull at Gulfstream Park and the Robert B. Lewis at Santa Anita are the others). The Withers awards 2025 Kentucky Derby qualifying points of 20-10-6-4-2 to the top five finishers on a sliding scale.
Mo Quality, runner-up in the 1 1/16-mile Smarty Jones Stakes at Oaklawn last out, is another colt worth watching. He stalked the pace in third place and ended up closing for second after Coal Battle pulled off to a four-length win.
“I thought we let the horse (Coal Battle) get away on the easy lead and I think we should have pressed the pace and gone a little bit faster, to make the race a little more honest,” trainer Chris Davis said. “He has a lot more natural speed than what he was allowed to show the other day. He wasn’t tired after the race.’’
He ran second in his debut in October at Keeneland, then won at 6 ½ furlongs a month later at Churchill Downs. Kendrick Carmouche has the call leaving from post 5.
“He is a big, strong horse. We are trying to teach him to go two turns,’’ Davis said. “Going from six and a half, to a mile and a sixteenth, it was a big difference, but I don’t think it was the distance – it was overall the way the race set up for us.”
For those who bet on horse racing, we’re believing Davis.
Post time for the Withers is 3:46 p.m. ET.
1 Global Steve (Mychel Sanchez, Butch Reid, Jr.), 6-1
2 Surfside Moon (Sahin Civaci, James Lawrence II), 15-1
3 Corvus (Romero Maragh, Jose Jimenez), 12-1
4 Uncle Jim (Jose Lezcano, Brad Cox), 3-1
5 Mo Quality (Kendrick Carmouche, Chris Davis), 3-1
6 Captain Cook (Manny Franco, Rick Dutrow, Jr.), 5-2
7 Omaha Omaha (Raul Mena, Michael Gorham), 4-1
The writing team at US Racing is comprised of both full-time and part-time contributors with expertise in various aspects of the Sport of Kings.
