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W M Cook Comes To Turf Naturally NaturallyApprentice Apprentice Rider Born in Kentucky Coal Mine Area Close to Breeding Section SectionDETROIT DETROIT Mich June 24 It would seem only natural that William Mc Kinley Cook named after the late president if you please should have be ¬ come a jockey because the winters ap ¬ prentice sensation is as much a product of the horse country as the blue grass and the cream gravy on the chicken chickenHe He was born practically next door to the Kentucky thoroughbred breeding grounds actually first saw the light of day near Kona in the Kentucky coalmine regions where his father worked in the mines And he was barely old enough to ask the way if he had to when he headed the short distance north to the blue grass ranges and the horses horsesHe He has been saying howdy to the thor ¬ oughbreds ever since He must say it in their language too because the 18year old blonde splinter now doing his stuff at Detroit led all the apprentices dur ¬ ing the Gulfstream meeting with 25 win ¬ ners and came right back to repeat at Hialeah with 24 He made a sweep of the Florida meetings with 40 winners winnersThat That openingday jackpot incidentally is nothing new for Bill He broke his maiden rode his first winner on the first race of the first days card of the Detroit meeting last year yearAll All told Cook had 63 winners last year and when you recall that he didnt win his first until late in May and then was laid up for nine weeks last fall in Chicago when a horse broke its leg threw him and fractured his arm you get the idea baby faced Bill is some better than a green hand piloting a race horse horseWorst Worst part of the spill he remembers ruefully is that I was five on top with the horse at the threeeighths pole when he went down Couldnt have helped winning winningOn On Shotsilk in Black Helen HelenIt It didnt however shake his confidence in William McKinley Cooks riding ability even a little bit William McKinley insists He was in there winging at the regular rid ¬ ing leaders right to the finish at Hialeah even to steering the somewhat lightly re ¬ garded Shotsilk 9 to 1 to a dead heat with Rampart conqueror of Armed in the 20000 Black Helen Handicap on closing day dayThought Thought I had it won too he tells you I was going to win but Shotsilk ducked at the gate which was on the inside of the rail as we came down the stretch That cost us the whole pot potWilliam William McKinley figured out early in life that the life of a jockey was his best bet betI I was small and didnt think I was going to get very big So I thought I might make a race rider riderSo So he went over to Doug Davis High Hope Farm for a job It wasnt much of a trip just a short walk as a matter of fact because High Hope is on Russell Cave Pike just at the edge of Lexington Ky KyI I was 15 then he relates They gave me a job first walking horses then break ¬ ing yearlings Then I went over to Louis ¬ ville and got a job galloping horses horsesAfter After Churchill Downs Cook headed for Detroit and Harry Trotseks jockey school Hes a strong rooter for that alma mater and the method of permitting the stu ¬ dents to ride races for novice jockeys jockeysIts Its a great place for a jockey to startJ he insists All begin the same all are novices in the novice races That way you get good experience riding against the same sort as yourself yourselfAt At the Detroit meeting he wound up third among the apprentices then went to Chicago and finally headed for Florida where hes made all of them from Ted Atkinson right on down hustle to beat him Which incidentally they dont do very often oftenOh Oh yes It should be pointed out that apprentice Wililam McKinley Cook who is named after the late president is also the horseshoe pitching champ of the jockey set
