Keith’s horse Render Judgment will compete in Saturday’s Kentucky Derby. – Credit: Jason Kempin/Getty Images/BMI; Churchill Downs/Coady Media
A horse co-owned by Toby Keith will race at the 151st Kentucky Derby this weekend, posthumously fulfilling a longtime dream of the late country legend.
The horse, Render Judgment, will start out of Gate 15 when the race takes place this Saturday, May 3, at Churchill Downs in Louisville. Render Judgment originally wasn’t supposed to appear in the Derby this year after landing at Number 21 on the Kentucky Derby eligibility list. But an injury to another horse during a workout bumped Render Judgment into the Top 20, securing his spot in the starting gate.
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Render Judgment is definitely a long shot to win the Derby, with the Louisville Courier-Journal giving the Bay Colt 30-to-1 odds at the Triple Crown kickoff. Still, just making it to Churchill Downs is a major achievement, with a post on Keith’s official Instagram celebrating the moment: “It was Toby’s dream….Render Judgment is going to the @kentuckyderby. He worked so hard to finally have one there! Toby will have the best seat in the house to watch.”
The “Beer for My Horses” singer was a longtime racing enthusiast, and spoke in a 2019 interview about the allure of winning the Kentucky Derby, and the challenges of actually making the race. “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,’” Keith said. “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 co-owned by Dream Walkin’ Farms, an Oklahoma-based Thoroughbred breeding and racing operation Keith founded in 2001. The Bay Colt was bred in Kentucky, and his trainer is Kenny McPeek, who also trained last year’s Derby winner Mystik Dan. Jockey Julien Leparoux will ride Render Judgment for the first time at the Derby this weekend.
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Keith died in 2024 at the age of 62. He’d spent the last several years battling stomach cancer, which he revealed publicly in 2022.
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