By Wes Mayberry
When you’re in the same division as a horse the caliber of Big Ranger, it can be easy to get overlooked.
“We’re unfortunate enough to have a great horse in a year that there’s also a super trotter named Big Ranger. It’s kind of a shame in that way,” says Tom Largo co-owner Garrett Peters, of Akron, Ohio.
Peters owns Tom Largo, a 3-year-old Long Tom gelded trotter out of Smith Hall, with two other Ohio-based connections — Jughead Stables and Robert Kubiak, both of Strongsville. They, along with trainer Scott Cox, of Streetsboro, Ohio, are proud of what Tom Largo has accomplished this season despite being in Big Ranger’s shadow.
“He’s gotten better in every start, which was the game plan,” Cox says.
There’s no doubt that Big Ranger, an Ohio Triple Crown winner and the Ohio Horse of the Year as a freshman in 2025, is the headliner in the sophomore colt trot division of this year’s Ohio Sires Stakes. Earlier this season, the son of In Range trained by Anette Lorentzon lowered his own track record with a mark of 1:50.3 at Eldorado Scioto Downs and later finished as the runner-up by the narrowest of margins in the Hambletonian, increasing his lifetime earnings to $772,947. But Tom Largo has certainly made his presence known as a top 3-year-old male trotter.
“He has far exceeded expectations,” Peters says.
A $25,000 purchase at the Ohio Selected Jug Sale in September 2024 from breeder Midland Acres, Tom Largo hit the board six times in nine starts as a freshman, recording five wins and $125,400 in earnings and finishing as the 2-year-old colt trot champion in the Buckeye Stallion Series. Cox points to that win and a runner-up finish in the OSS consolation final as what propelled the horse into what has been a successful sophomore campaign.
Tom Largo has finished no worse than second in all 11 starts this season, recording six wins and five seconds to go with $224,850 in earnings. He scored a victory in four of the five legs of the OSS, with his only blemish being a runner-up finish to Big Ranger in the third leg at Scioto Downs in what was the lone matchup between the horses in the series thus far. Despite finishing four and three-quarters lengths back of Big Ranger in that race, Tom Largo crossed the line in 1:51.3, which is better than his lifetime mark of 1:51.4. As such, Cox is more impressed with that performance than the horse’s victories in the other four legs.
“Going against Big Ranger helped break him loose a little bit more speed-wise,” he says. “He stepped up and trotted a couple seconds faster, and I think that helped him in the long run.”
In his four OSS wins this season, Tom Largo’s margin of victory was three lengths in 1:54.4 in the first leg at Miami Valley Raceway, half a length in 1:53.1 in the second leg at Scioto Downs, and one length in 1:54.1 and five and a quarter lengths in 1:54.4 in the third and fourth legs, respectively, at Northfield Park. Highlighted by those victories, Tom Largo has had a standout season thanks not only to his talent but also that of his trainer and driver.
“I’ve done business with him for years, and I think he’s the best trainer in Ohio,” Peters says of Cox. “He’s laid back, and he knows what he’s doing. I can’t say enough about him.”
Cox is just as complimentary of driver Chris Lems.
“Chris is pretty laid back and knows what to do with him, so it works out good,” Cox says.
Another matchup with Big Ranger looms in the OSS Scarlet Championship at Scioto Downs on Sept. 12, and Tom Largo’s connections know winning that race will be a tough task.
“Big Ranger is so good — I would put him in the super horse category,” Peters says. “We’re good too, but it’s going to take a great effort to beat that horse.”
Cox agreed but added that finishing behind Big Ranger wouldn’t lessen all that Tom Largo has achieved in 2026.
“I just want him to go into it healthy and fresh and ready to go, and we’ll see how it ends up,” he says. “How he finishes that race won’t define his season.”