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Louisville, KY --- If his bike hadn’t hooked wheels with another sulky, Toms Titan might very well have an unblemished record, but beginning your career by going four for five isn’t exactly anything to sneeze at. Needless to say, his connections are more than happy with what he has already accomplished.


“It always makes it a little more special when you own the sire and the dam,” said Thomas Cooke about his 2-year-old homebred. “Especially with what happened with his mother, Like My Mom, as she had to be raised by a surrogate mare. Her mother, Matt’s All Folks, died during her birth. It was actually on Mother’s Day, too. That’s why we named her that, as a tribute to her mother, so it’s great to see Toms Titan doing so well.”


Conditioned by Roger Hans, Toms Titan is a son of Nuclear Breeze and has collected $40,750 from his five trips to the post.


Cooke was told shortly after he began training, that this colt could possess some talent, but as a veteran of the business, he knew that a wait-and-see approach might be best.


“You know how it goes,” he said. “I’ve heard that plenty of times before, but it is awful nice when it does pan out.”


The colt made his career debut a winning one on June 27 in a $3,000 non-winners contest at Ocean Downs. His next appearance was another victory on July 7 at Harrah’s Philadelphia in a $13,000 event under similar conditions, before he was first yet again in a $32,900 Maryland Standardbred Race Fund event at Ocean Downs on July 15.


On Aug. 2, Toms Titan left the gate at Harrah’s Philadelphia to compete in a $20,000 division of the Pennsylvania Stallion Series as the post-time favorite, but after his driver Corey Callahan and Yannick Gingras on Tellitlikeitis locked wheels, he was placed seventh and last for interference.


“The judges placed us last because we were probably at fault,” Cooke said. “But sometimes these things happen and thankfully he came out of it sound, as well as no one else was hurt.”


The next engagement for Toms Titan was another triumph in a $32,600 Maryland Standardbred Race Fund race at Ocean Downs on Aug. 12. The colt was clearly the best of this bunch and cruised home an easy victor in a sparkling 1:53.2, which happens to be a stakes, track and national season’s record. Unfortunately, Cooke was unable to attend the races that evening.


“I had to watch him on the computer because I was in Saratoga for a medication conference,” he said. “I was watching him come home and of course, I didn’t know what the times would be, but he looked like he was doing it so easily. In fact afterward, Corey (Callahan, his driver) said he came home well in hand and there was a lot left after he hit the wire.


“We started to get really excited about him after his last quarter-mile in his second qualifier was :27.4. That was like a 'wow' moment.”


Toms Titan probably will not have his name dropped in the box many more times this season, as Cooke likes to take it easy on his 2-year-olds and wants to ensure this colt has all the time he needs to mature.