ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Trainer Nick Nosowenko is back on the Queen’s Plate trail this season with Cooler Mike, who won a key allowance prep at Woodbine on May 20. Nosowenko has had one previous Queen’s Plate starter, Rackman, who finished 12th in the Plate back in 2013. Nosowenko said Rackman provided much needed experience for his training career when it comes to preparing a horse for the 1 1/4-mile Queen’s Plate. “He was an Ontario-sired maiden winner and we ran him against the big boys,” he said. “That was a mistake. We took a shot, but the next time I won’t be taking a shot unless the horse is live.” Cooler Mike has the look of a live Queen’s Plate horse. He made six starts as a 2-year-old, four in stakes, and came away with a pair of allowance wins. He was never worse than fourth in his other juvenile starts, and always finished within four lengths of the winner. :: QUEEN’S PLATE WATCH: Alex Campbell and Ron Gierkink’s Top 10 contenders, video, and more This season, Cooler Mike has appeared to have moved forward. He was second to future graded stakes winner O’Kratos in his 3-year-old debut on April 29, and won his second start of the year last Sunday in a 1 1/16-mile allowance race while adding blinkers. “Last year, he probably should have won two or three more races,” Nosowenko said. “He was running so good, I was scared to put [blinkers] on because he was so close all the time. The problem was laying in on horses down the stretch. We thought it was more of a baby thing. This year, in the first race, he started doing the same thing. That was our last chance before the Plate to put them on and see what happens.” Nosowenko said he would likely train Cooler Mike up to the Queen’s Plate, noting that the colt trained over the winter and has had plenty of race experience. “He’s just getting better and stronger, and I don’t think I need to do a lot right now,” Nosowenko said. “He’s proven himself that he can do it.” Nosowenko owns Cooler Mike with his father, Mike Nosowenko. The father-son pair bred the Bold Executive mare Executive Affair to Giant Gizmo to produce Cooler Mike, who is a half-brother to Rackman. Cooler Mike almost ended up in other hands, however, after the Nosowenkos opted to enter him in the 2016 Canadian premier yearling sale. “He was an outstanding-looking horse,” Nosowenko said. “Giant Gizmo was hot at the time. We had put a reserve on him for $59,000. He sold for $60,000 and then the buyer wouldn’t sign the ticket. They had to start the bidding process all over again. We ended up buying him back because he never met the reserve. It all worked out and he’s made all that money back and then some.” Cooler Mike grew up at Steve and Kathleen Kemp’s Ballycroy Training Center in Loretto, Ontario. Nosowenko said Cooler Mike was an aggressive individual as a young horse. Following the sale, the Nosowenkos opted to geld Cooler Mike to help him focus on getting ready for his racing career. “He was a tough horse,” he said. “He was growing big and strong and they suggested at the farm that we geld him because he was just not paying attention being broken. We did geld him, and it was probably the best thing for him. Although he is very aggressive in his races, he’s a really kind horse to be around in the morning.” Following his busy 2-year-old campaign, Cooler Mike was sent to Brandon Rice and Alexandra de Meric’s RiceHorse Training Center in Ocala, Fla., and turned out for five weeks before resuming his training. “They turned him out with a real pony so he wouldn’t get hurt,” he said. “They started training him with the babies. It was kind of funny because he was out there as a lead horse for the babies getting ready for the 2-year-old in training sales. He was walking through the gate front and back and teaching them what do. It was actually great education for him because he de-stressed and he was acting just like a baby again and having fun walking through the gate.” From there, Cooler Mike was moved to Whispering Oaks Farm in Ocala, Fla., to begin more serious training. Nosowenko left Cooler Mike with Slade and Kelly Callaghan, who oversaw a series of breezes before Cooler Mike returned to Woodbine. With plenty of foundation in place for Cooler Mike, Nosowenko said he can still improve as the Queen’s Plate approaches. “He’s still learning,” he said. “Even in that [allowance] race, I don’t think he put it together. He’s pretty versatile at this point, which is a good thing to have. He’s not one dimension. A mile and a quarter is a mile and a quarter, but we’ll have to see who goes and how the race shapes up.”