Nosowenko off to good start at meet

ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Trainer Nick Nosowenko set a career high for wins at a Woodbine meet in 2014 with 13, and he is well positioned to exceed that total this year after winning with three of his five starters during the meet’s opening weekend.

“My throat is still hoarse,” Nosowenko said. “It was a good start.”

Nosowenko found the winner’s circle with Simply Belonging and Splashy Gizmo on Saturday and added to that total Sunday when No Soup for You won the fifth race on the card.

Nosowenko said his horses have performed above expectations at this meet, given that all 18 horses in his barn only resumed training in late February.

“I did nothing with them [this winter],” he said. “They were out at the farm, and I didn’t even put tack on them. They just relaxed. They came [to the track] on Feb. 25, and Feb. 26 was the first day they had a saddle on their back.”

Nosowenko is still chasing his first career stakes win but is hopeful that Splashy Gizmo can return to the form she showed as a 2-year-old after her win last weekend. Splashy Gizmo finished second in a pair of restricted stakes in 2013, losing by a neck both times, including in the Ontario Lassie Stakes, where she finished ahead of last year’s Queen’s Plate winner, Lexie Lou.

Nosowenko said a series of ailments after that race, including chips in both ankles, a fractured cannon bone, and pneumonia, prevented Splashy Gizmo from finding her best form as a 3-year-old.

“When she was a 2-year-old, we were pretty high on her,” Nosowenko said. “She had lots of excuses of why not to come back last year and be a good horse, so I just stopped on her, turned her out for the year, and she’s come back unbelievable. She looks the part, and she’s doing well.”

Nosowenko was to run a pair of horses this weekend at Woodbine, with She’s a Ringer and Splashy Girl both entered on Saturday’s card.