Cooler Mike to chill after Prince of Wales third

ETOBICOKE, Ontario – After back-to-back third-place finishes in the Queen’s Plate and Prince of Wales Stakes, Cooler Mike will skip the third and final leg of the Canadian Triple Crown, the $400,000 Breeders’ Stakes over 1 1/2-miles on turf back at Woodbine on Aug. 18, trainer Nick Nosowenko said.

Nosowenko said Cooler Mike has already been turned out on the farm for a break from training.

“He came out [of the Prince of Wales] good, so I figured now’s the time to get him some green grass,” he said. “We’ll get him back in a couple weeks and we’ll start all over again.”

Nosowenko said he felt Cooler Mike was set up well to challenge Wonder Gadot in the Prince of Wales, but he didn’t appear to handle the sloppy track after heavy rain hit midway through the card.

“I think the track hurt him,” he said. “He struggled a bit. We were hoping for a fast track to take a nice run at the filly. The way he trained and the way he worked in 46, I thought we had a real shot at winning, but she’s too much. She’s the real deal. He got third money, so we’re quite happy with that.”

Nosowenko said Cooler Mike could make his return for Canadian Millions Sales Stakes Day on Aug. 29. Cooler Mike would have to face older horses on Tapeta, but he could return in either the $100,00 Kenora Stakes over six furlongs or the $100,000 Elgin Stakes over 1 1/16-miles.