Toby Keith’s Dream Fulfilled With Horse Going to the Kentucky Derby

Award winning singer-songwriter, entertainer, and successful business owner Toby Keith is having his dream fulfilled with his Thoroughbred breeding and racing operation’s horse, Render Judgment, set to race in the Kentucky Derby on Saturday, May 3.

Coming into the post position draw on Saturday, Render Judgment, co-owned by Keith’s Dream Walkin' Farms, sat in 21st on the points leaderboard, just out of reach of an automatic placement in the race. But due to an injury that pulled one of the Top 20 leaders, Render Judgment entered the draw and now holds the No. 15 position in the Run for Roses.

In 2019, Keith told the Kentucky Derby’s Connections, "The derby is the one you want to win. Yeah, that’s the one that everybody wants to hang on their wall, saying 'I won the Kentucky Derby.' But, God, it’s hard to get there. ...horse racing business is (frustrating but) dream more. Everything’s rolling the dice. The next one is too. And it’s exciting. You gotta live on the edge a little bit.” 

Render Judgment is a Bay Colt, bred in Kentucky and a son of Blame out of the Commissioner mare Barbara Gordon. His trainer is Kenny McPeek (who also trained last year’s Kentucky Derby winner Mystik Dan) and jockey Julien Leparoux will ride him for the first time at the Kentucky Derby.

Keith had operated Dream Walkin’ Farms for more than three decades, and now his family has taken over the 330-acre facility out of Pauls Valley, Okla. 

In 2024, the New York Times wrote, "All the gold records and Billboard awards took up only half of the space in Toby Keith’s trophy shelves: Starting in 1997, the country-music giant also led a second career breeding and racing prizewinning thoroughbreds. Keith’s horses have won some 900 races, and the 'Should’ve Been a Cowboy’ and 'Beer for My Horses’ singer regarded the animals as de facto members of his family. 'It wasn’t a hobby for him,' says Danny Caldwell, who first met Keith 12 years ago at the Oklahoma racing track Remington Park and later founded a stable with him. 'Toby knew that horses are very smart animals, and they have a passion for doing their job, and each one’s personality is different. ...Horses really can read people. They can identify you as good or mean. And Toby? They all identified him as cool. He was there to have fun with them. They read from him that he was genuine and sincere.'”

The 151st Kentucky Derby will be held Saturday, May 3 at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Kentucky, and will be broadcast on NBC and the Peacock app. Check local listings for details.