Whereas writing, recording, and performing a protracted string of high nation music hits because the flip of the century took up most of his hours, Toby Keith additionally made the time to get pleasure from his massive Thoroughbred racing secure.
Upon the information of Keith’s Feb. 5 demise at age 62, the nation music singer and songwriter’s different ardour was on the thoughts of coach Bret Calhoun, who conditioned 2003 Arlington-Washington Futurity winner Cactus Ridge for Keith’s Dream Walkin’ Farms. Calhoun famous that as an proprietor and breeder Keith oversaw a big secure.
“Should you have a look at his operation as an entire, I believe he simply wished to get pleasure from them as a lot as he may,” Calhoun stated. “He had large numbers. He had them in any respect totally different ranges. Everyone all the time desires good horses and I believe that mattered to him. However I simply assume he loved having motion. He appreciated numbers and motion.”
Keith loved researching potential matings and it was commonplace to see him at gross sales. However the pleasure of the observe captured Keith’s creativeness.
“He would attempt to work his schedule the place he may very well be at among the races whether or not he was enjoying live shows and get to fly in,” Calhoun stated. “He would all the time attempt to make it to among the larger races.”
The musician, who was born Toby Keith Covel, started shopping for horses to race within the late Nineties and breeding shortly thereafter. He later grew to become a Breeders’ Cup ambassador.
“We had been extraordinarily saddened to be taught of the passing of Toby Keith immediately,” Breeders’ Cup stated in a launch. “Along with his great accomplishments within the music and leisure world, Toby was a longtime Breeders’ Cup ambassador and an enthusiastic Thoroughbred proprietor, breeder, and fan who drastically loved attending the Breeders’ Cup World Championships. Alongside along with his legion of followers, we are going to miss him very a lot and specific our deepest condolences to his family members.”
His first horse, Jack Department, received on first asking in a Dec. 13, 1997, maiden particular weight at Remington Park. Apart from Cactus Ridge, a son of Hennessy who would stand in Kentucky after which Oklahoma, Keith additionally campaigned 2016 Grade 3 winner Smack Smack, who was educated by Don Von Hemel.
At his peak, Keith had a number of hundred horses he was racing, breeding, or promoting underneath his Dream Walkin’ Farms banner. Not counting partnerships, Dream Walkin’ Farms received 848 races from 6,587 starters with $18,648,853 in earnings in Equibase statistics that date again to 2001. In 2016, his operation ranked twelfth in proprietor wins. Dream Walkin’ Farms had two different top-15 finishes for wins (2015 and 2021) and since 2012 has constantly ranked within the high 100 by earnings and/or wins.
“Music is one thing that may last more than a sports activities profession for those who can keep profitable,” Keith informed BloodHorse in 2015, “but when a man ever does determine to hold it up, he actually has to seek out one thing else that thrills him. And the horse racing enterprise has all the time thrilled me that a lot.”
Regardless of a bobble in the beginning, Cactus Ridge saved his excellent report intact with a three-length victory within the Grade 3, $150,000 Arlington-Washington Futurity on the closing day card on the suburban Chicago racetrack. With Eddie Martin Jr. within the irons, the Bret Calhoun-trained colt established a stakes report time of 1:35.44 for the mile on a quick observe, eclipsing the 1:35 4/5 normal set by Secret Good day in 1989.
“It was it was numerous enjoyable, it actually was,” stated Calhoun of working with quite a few horses for Keith. “He was a man that actually, actually beloved the enterprise. He was actually concerned in it, he beloved attempting to determine breeding and crosses, and nicks; he beloved that type of stuff. He beloved going to the races. He beloved watching his horses. He appreciated all sides — he beloved the shopping for, promoting, racing, breeding.”
Smack Smack would end as his high earner at $986,419. By 2005 Kentucky Derby runner-up Closing Argument, Smack Smack posted 10 wins, seven seconds, and 9 thirds from 37 begins, together with a victory within the Grade 3 Cornhusker Handicap in 2016. Different notable runners included Three Chords, Ghost Locket, and Searching for Ms Shelley.
Calhoun stated he had not spent a lot time with Keith lately however fondly recollects the time they did spend collectively at Remington Park shortly earlier than Keith was recognized with most cancers in June 2022.
“Clearly, the music trade [Keith’s death] is a giant loss for them. It’s a giant loss for the horse racing trade as a result of he was a giant promoter for the horse racing trade. He simply actually beloved it,” Calhoun stated.
