Toby Keith: Country Singer, Horse Owner

Originally published in the Aug. 7 edition of Blood-Horse Daily. To download the Blood-Horse Daily smartphone app or to receive the edition in your inbox each evening, visit BloodHorse.com/Daily.

In June, country music legend Toby Keith was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame, an honor he called the greatest achievement of his career. But what Toby really wants to talk about are his racehorses, which he said are his greatest passion outside of music.

"Music is something that can last longer than a sports career if you can stay successful," he said, "but if a guy ever does decide to hang it up, he really has to find something else that thrills him. And the horse racing business has always thrilled me that much."

Toby and his friends race under the name Dream Walkin' Farms (Dream Walkin' is the title track of his 1997 album). In addition to a large broodmare band, he buys about 10 yearlings every year.

"I've got buddies that I want to race with, so I try to give them the best shot. My plan is to spend about $1 million and buy nine or 10 yearlings that meet our criteria: They're clean, they scope, X-rays are good, they've got the pedigree we want, they're in the price range. We take them back to the farm, break them, and send four, five, or six that don't have any baby problems to the 2-year-old sales.

"The partnership will race the rest, so pinhooking some really makes it less expensive. There would be no way—without grabbing the brass ring or hitting the lotto—that you're going to make $1 million back like that. It keeps the guys I enjoy running around with who sometimes might not have the cash to hang in there—it keeps it fun and keeps anybody from taking a bath. When I'm not working, we can fly around to tracks and watch a good stakes race."

Toby entered the Thoroughbred stallion business in 2004 with homebred grade III winner Cactus Ridge. Recently he has added to his stallion holdings.

"Cactus Ridge has gone sterile, but I have a stakes-winning full brother to him that I stand in Oklahoma named Sebastian County. I've got a speedball War Front here in Oklahoma named Doctor Chit. I've got another in Florida with Hartley/DeRenzo, a Tapit named Rattlesnake Bridge. And then I have Ice Box  .

"Ice Box's first babies are finally getting to the track. Physically they look fantastic. We've only had three or four start. So far they haven't shown a lot of early speed; they seem to be more of a two-turn deal, which is completely away from what we've always done with Cactus Ridge."

A self-taught student on pedigrees and believer in "kind to kind" physical matings, Toby said the challenge of planning matings for his mares and stallions keeps him hooked.

"You can go all day long and tell me what to breed to, but Mother Nature is hard to tame," he said. "I've studied pedigrees for years and years, probably more than I've studied anything else. It's something that keeps me up at night, reading, trying to learn more all the time for hours and hours. It's about the only thing I can keep focused on."