Evening star., 1951-11-08
Lois HisNome, but Jockey Cook
Proves He's No Sissy on Track
By Lewis +. Atchison

by Lewis r. Atcnison
Lois C. Cook, one of the cleverestI
jockeys riding on Maryland tracks
recently. thinks he probably got
that first name because his folks
expected a girl when he was born.
But the spelling doesn't bother
him any more. except when some
|hard-boiled motorcycle cop stops
him and then wants to know how
come he's driving with girls
license.
The 26-year-old. 103-pound
Cookie" as he prefers to be
called. has done a man-size job of
riding since he broke in five years
ago as a pupil under Trainer Har-
ry TrotSek, who later developed
Oil Capitol into a Kentucky Der
by threat. And before pulling on
racing boots, Cook did a mans
work driving a mule in a coal mine
at Whitesburg, KY, where he
was born and raised.
But riding is a hobby, as we'll
as a job and livelihood with Cook,
whose dad, a 103-pounder, too,
but no race-rider, lead the boy
around on the back of the family's
lpet pony almost as soon as he
could sit up.
Studied Riding with Brother.
Being a jockey was farthest from
young Cooks mind when a for
mer neighbor, who had obtained
Ia factory job in Detroit. urged the
boy to go to the motor city. The
Iyoungster wasn't big enough for
factory work, so he followed a
friends suggestion that he be-
come a rider. A year later, his
younger brother, William McKin-
ley Cook. joined him at Trotsek's
school, and the two graduated"
with honors.
Cookies first year at Detroit
was typical for an apprentice
grubbing out stalls. walking
''hots," sleeping in the tack room,
and missing his mothers fried
chicken. But he was happy and
satisfied to be around horses. and
Trotsek was an able teacher.
He made us sit astride bales
of hay and learn to use the whip"
Cookie recalled. land If I do say
so myself. can handle a stick
pretty well. Mr.. Trotsek taught usI
how to change hands, and it came
in handy at Laurel when Ocean
Breeze started to lug into the
rail in the stretch. I switched
hands with the whip and straight
ened him out.
"Mr. Trotsek used to send us
out with older riders to learn toI
rate a horse and when to make
moves. And he told us to always
save little horse for the end
don't run him into the ground at
the start I've remembered that
because tired horse isn't much
SOO0 III Tie StTcGCQ.
Rode One Race q Day.
Trotsek's pupils rode one race
a day during their schooling, an
apprentice race in which whips
were barred. And when a boy
chalked up his 10th victory he
graduated" Cookies brother got
out ahead of him. Lois Joined
Henry Forces stable after leaving
Trotsek and went to New Orleans
where he clicked Immediately /
winning the Thanksgiving and
Christmas Handicaps. A year laterl
he missed repeating his Thanks
giving victory on Traveller by a |
nose.
Going to Hot Springs, he won
rs races in 80 days at Oaklawn
Park. He won So victories at the
Michigan Racing Association
meeting, 81 at Hazel Park, and
reached the winners circle III
times during Laurel's recent IA
day meeting. He's ridden eight
winners during Pimlico's current
meeting.
Cookie hasn't had a chance atI
any Of racing's big plums, such
as the Kentucky Derby, Preakness
or Belmont Stakes, but he's got
his eye on them. He rode Ponder
in the 1949 Derby Trial and fin
ished fourth. A few days later,
Steve Brooks, who accepted the
mount reluctantly. piloted Ponder
to victory in the Derby.
Recalls Mean Horse.
Cookie, as noted above, likes
horses and they usually like him
but John Hart had a five-year-old |
f1lly of such mean disposition the
boy refused to ride her a second
time.
Shed jump straight up in the
air and cross her legs to make
sure she fell" Cook told us.
Yeah, and she walked on my
foot for good measure" put in /
Mike Frieshon. Cooks valet.
Frieshon had hand in persuad-