Michael Cooke is one of the best known horsemen in North America yet you will rarely see his name in the track program. He has broken, trained and prepared hundreds of horses for success on the racetrack at his Cookes Town Racing in Dunnellon, Florida, where he has been for decades since the days he was a top man at famed Windfields Farm in Oshawa.
When horses win stakes races at Woodbine, you will often hear the trainer thank Cooke for his work with the horse and yet you will hardly see him. Heck, there are virtually no photos of Cooke on his own Facebook page.
How interesting is it then that Cooke is the owner and co-breeder of a big grey colt, one of about 875 Thoroughbreds born in Canada in 2023, who will start in the 167th King’s Plate at Woodbine on Saturday. Don Ique is one of 12 3-year-olds entered in the 1 1/4 mile Plate and his trainer is Hall of Famer Josie Carroll, a three-time Plate winner.
Don Ique will be a longshot in the Plate but his connections, pedigree and style give him a chance to get a good share of the $1 million purse. And, the colt will have a hefty cheering section including one special horseman watching from above.
“He’s running for Chris”, said Cooke about his close friend Chris Vella, who passed away last August in a horse riding accident in Colorado. “He was like my baby brother. He was going to be training this horse.”
Chris Vella, son of Hall of Fame trainer Dan Vella, was an accomplished horseman himself and he was getting set to return to Woodbine this year after several years away. “I was going to go to see him in Colorado at the dude ranch he worked at. Then we were going to go to the Keeneland September sale and get a few horses. I talked to him the day before [he passed away] and it was all arranged. I still can’t believe it to this day.”
Dan Vella, who is retired from training but consults for Frank Stronach’s Stronach Stables and is on the board of the HBPA,, has seen Don Ique develop for his friend.
“Mike is part of our extended family. He is a good buddy.” said Vella. “Him and Christopher were very close and they were making plans I believe with this horse.”
Vella said Mike was a neighbour and a co-worker at Adena Springs in Aurora. Cooke spent winters in Ocala at Stronach’s Florida farm and moved to that area a couple of decades ago.
Don Ique, whose pedigree is a melting post of bloodlines, is by Astern, a Group 1 winner in his home country of Australia. Don Ique’s dam, Iquique was foaled in France, and her female family is rich in German breeding, tracing back to that country’s champion studs Orsini and Ticino.
“He’s bred for long and the grass,” said Cooke. “So, he’s really a Breeders’ Stakes horse.”
Don Ique came about when Jeff Yingling, who raced horses at Woodbine under Sangreal Investments, bought Iquique through agent James McHale for $79,985 from the 2015 Arqana Yearling Sale in Deauville. Iquique raced for Yingling in 2017 and 2018, winning three grass races. Cooke became a co-owner in her once she retired and her first foal did not race.
Don Ique was foaled at Bernard and Karen McCormack’s farm in Port Perry in the middle of a snowstorm on January 25, 2023. When he was a yearling, Cooke took over ownership of the colt and his dam. Yingling has a Temple City yearling from the mare.
Cooke sent Don Ique to his friend Joe Davis in Indiana to race and the colt won his maiden last July in a $40,000 claiming race on the grass.
“He was just so big and gangly and I knew he had a lot more growing to do so I gave him a break.”
Trainer Carroll came to see the colt this winter, liked him and took him to her barn. He won his first race for Carroll on May 24, his first race in 10 months. IN his third race of this year, Don Ique was a closing fifth in the Plate Trial behind Highwaytothemoon and galloped out strongly.
Vella, himself a two-time winner of the Plate, likes what he has seen from Don Ique. “He has all the makings of a nice horse. He has a great stride and the distance will be fine. Mike, Josie and I all started in this business around the same time and we are good friends. It’s a fun situation that we are all involved in the race this year.”
Vella will also be busy cheering on Stronach’s Plate starter Very Special, who is a maiden but has shown promise for trainer Kevin Attard. Vella has been friends with Strronach for about 40 years.
As for Don Ique being in the Plate field, Mike wasn’t convinced his colt should be entered in the Canadian classix but he left the final decision up to Carroll.
“I suggested maybe we wait for the Breeders’ with him, but Josie said she wanted to run him in the Plate. And when she tells you to run, you listen,” Cooke said with a laugh.
Of course, Carroll also trains the Plate’s strong favourite, the filly Luster, who romped in the Woodbine Oaks. But Cooke is just excited to see his colt in the Plate since he has only owned exactly one other horse as a solo owner.
“He is such a cool horse with a great attitude. He’s a happy type of horse. If he was a human he would be the guy laughing and joking all the time.”
And that’s just the kind of horse Cooke loves. He dedicates the colt’s Plate run to his late friend. “We always talked about how cool it would be to have our own horse in the Plate. He will be up there smiling.”
Chris Vella (left) with Mike Cooke many years ago.
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