Toby Keith’s horse, Render Judgment, is set to race in the 151st Kentucky Derby.
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Keith’s daughter, Krystal, expressed, “For more than 30 years, my dad dreamed of having his horses compete in the Kentucky Derby.”
On May 3, one of Toby Keith’s lifelong dreams will be realized when his Thoroughbred breeding and racing operation’s horse, Render Judgment, takes part in the Kentucky Derby.
As the post position draw approached on Saturday, Render Judgment — co-owned by Keith’s Dream Walkin’ Farms — was ranked 21st on the points leaderboard, just missing an automatic berth in the race. However, due to an injury that caused one of the Top 20 contenders to withdraw, Render Judgment was given the chance to enter the draw and now occupies the 15th spot for the prestigious Run for the Roses.
Render Judgment, a bay colt bred in Kentucky, is sired by Blame and out of the Commissioner mare, Barbara Gordon. Trained by Kenny McPeek, who also trained last year’s Kentucky Derby winner, Mystik Dan, Render Judgment will be ridden by jockey Julien Leparoux for the first time at the Derby.
This moment marks a significant milestone for the late country music legend’s family. His daughter, Krystal Keith, shared the news on social media to celebrate her father’s dream.
“My dad dreamed of having his horses in the Kentucky Derby for over 30 years. Here he is still making his dreams come true from his castle in the sky,” she wrote. “Our horse Render Judgment made it yesterday just hours before the post position drawing. Out of over 20,000 race horses born in the same year to be eligible for this year’s race, only 20 will race in the 2025 Kentucky Derby. My dad could never decide which passion was greater, music or horse racing. He could’ve had a PhD in horse pedigrees. What an incredible journey we’ve been on to get here. Win or lose, he made it to the Derby, and for me, that’s everything. Give ’em hell, RJ!”
In 2019, Keith spoke about the Kentucky Derby during an interview with Kentucky Derby’s Connections.
“The Derby is the one you want to win. Yeah, that’s the one everyone wants to hang on their wall, saying ‘I won the Kentucky Derby.’ But, God, it’s hard to get there… the horse racing business is (frustrating but) dream more,” he said. “Everything’s rolling the dice. The next one is too. And it’s exciting. You’ve gotta live on the edge a little bit.”
After more than three decades of running Dream Walkin’ Farms, Keith’s family has now taken over the 330-acre property in Pauls Valley, Oklahoma.