Award-winning Country music singer-songwriter, entertainer, and successful Thoroughbred owner Toby Keith revealed Sunday on Twitter that he was recently diagnosed with stomach cancer and has been undergoing treatment.
Keith owns Dream Walkin' Farms, an Oklahoma-based Thoroughbred breeding and racing operation.
“Last fall I was diagnosed with stomach cancer,” Keith, 60, said on Twitter. “I've spent the last 6 months receiving chemo, radiation, and surgery. So far, so good. I need time to breathe, recover and relax. I am looking forward to spending this time with my family, but I will see the fans sooner than later. I can't wait.”
Keith, whose full name is Toby Keith Covel, has operated Dream Walkin' Farms for more than three decades and has won several stakes in his native Oklahoma and elsewhere. Top runners include Bret Calhoun-trained Cactus Ridge, winner of the 2003 Arlington-Washington Futurity (G3), and Smack Smack, winner of the 2016 Cornhusker (G3) and an earner of $986,419 for trainer Don Von Hemel.
Keith has been a leading owner at Oaklawn Park in Hot Springs, Arkansas, and Remington Park in his home state of Oklahoma.
Runners under Keith's Dream Walkin' Farms banner have compiled a 811-827-808 record from 6,222 starts through June 11, according to Equibase, while bankrolling more than $17.5 million in earnings.
In 2022, Dream Walkin' Farms is represented by 144 starters who have compiled 15-21-22 record while racing at Prairie Meadows and Louisiana Downs and earning $428,772.
Keith has been a familiar fixture at public auctions in Kentucky. In recent years, he has kept 40-plus broodmares in the Bluegrass State and held interests in several stallions.
Since jockey Tyler Gaffalione arrived on the Churchill Downs scene in 2018 he's dominated the standings. And, with 16 days left of the 2022 Spring Meet, Gaffalione is on track to record the most wins in the Spring Meet in the last decade.
Through 27 days of the 44-day meet, Gaffalione has found the winner's circle 37 times for a 1.37 win/day average. He's on pace to record 60 wins at the meet, which would be the most since Corey Lanerie's 71 victories in 2012.
Gaffalione has won many types of races this meet from $8,000 claiming events to the Grade 1, $1 million Old Forester Bourbon Turf Classic aboard Santin.
Out of the 37 wins, Gaffalione has won for 16 different trainers – Joe Sharp (6 wins), Steve Asmussen (5), Mike Maker (5), Greg Foley (4), Todd Pletcher (3), Robert Medina (2), Brendan Walsh (2), Wesley Ward (2) and has had one win for Rusty Arnold, Gerald Bennett, Chad Brown, Mark Casse, Norm Casse, Brad Cox, Robertino Diodoro, and Mike Lauer.
When Gaffalione has won races the current Spring Meet, they have been in bunches. There were only two days when Gaffalione found the winner's circle that he didn't win multiple races on the card. He's had 13 multi-win days including four-win days on May 15, June 4 and June 8.
As much as 27-year-old Gaffalione has controlled the standings, he will have a lot of work to do to win the most races ever in the Spring Meet. In 1991, Pat Day recorded an astounding 90 wins in the 55-day meet for a 1.64 win/day average. The most victories Gaffalione has recorded at a Churchill Downs Spring Meet was when he won the 2021 title with 47 wins.
The complete list of annual Churchill Downs riding champions and their win totals can be found on www.kentuckyderby.com/media.
Following two days riding at Belmont Park, Gaffalione returned Sunday where he had mounts in Races 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, and 8.
Gaffalione is represented by agent Matt Muzikar, who also books the races for the No. 2 rider in the Spring Meet standings Ricardo Santana Jr. (20 wins). They're followed by Rafael Bejarano (18), Brian Hernandez Jr. (17) and Florent Geroux (15).
Overall, Gaffalione has won seven Churchill Downs titles, including the last six meets. His first title came in the 2018 Fall Meet.
With teenage sensations Jeiron Barbosa and Charlie Marquez challenging established veterans such as Jevian Toledo and Victor Carrasco for superiority in Maryland's jockey colony, the return of journeyman Feargal Lynch went relatively unnoticed.
Not any more. Lynch, a native of Northern Ireland and former champion apprentice in England who turned 44 in March, jumped out to a fast start at Laurel Park's 37-day summer meet with four wins over opening weekend including a hat trick June 5.
Lynch was blanked on four mounts Friday but finished third in Race 5 aboard 3 Seasons Racing's Magic Mule, trained by Kerry Hohlbein, and was beaten a nose on Stone Farm's Bad to the Bones in Race 9 for trainer Graham Motion. He ranks second in the meet standings, one behind Barbosa's five wins.
“I think the turf opening up has definitely helped my business,” Lynch said. “I take the winters off now, so come Thanksgiving I give my body a break. I go back and see my parents and go to Europe and I don't start riding again until March. It just takes a little while to get going again and get the contacts back up and running. My agent does a great job. When you ride for the right people, that helps.”
Represented by agent Chris Pipito, Lynch had two mounts after Thanksgiving 2021 and none between Dec. 16 and April 1, when Wet My Beak ran fifth in a maiden special weight at Laurel for Motion. Lynch picked up his first win of the year aboard Funwhileitlasted, trained by Brittany Russell, April 14. He was second with Khuluq for trainer Chad Brown in the $100,000 Weber City Miss April 16.
“[We] pick and choose. I want to spend more time back in Europe with my family. My parents are getting older. I like to go to Spain and play golf with my dad,” Lynch said. “We work hard all spring and summer, then we go home for Christmas and December, January, February [I] just give the body a break. You're not missing the weather here. It's just like Mario Pino did for a bit at the end. It gives you a bit longer for a career.”
The 60-year-old Pino retired last October after being one of just 10 North American jockeys to reach 7,000 wins. Well-established in the Mid-Atlantic, including six riding titles at Laurel and historic Pimlico Race Course, Pino rode at least 1,100 races between 1979 and 2003. He didn't surpass 1,000 in a season since, and never reached even half that many per year after 2010.
Pimlico's leading or co-leading rider in 2017 and 2018, Lynch had career highs of 135 wins, 748 mounts and $5.32 million in purse earnings in 2017. He missed some time after suffering small fractures in his back following a spill at Laurel in June 2020, but rebounded with 37 wins and nearly $2 million in purses earned last year from 251 mounts.
“I suppose if I keep getting on the right horses on the stake days and right people still want to use me then we'll keep going,” Lynch said.
Lynch went 2-for-20 during the Preakness Meet at Pimlico and 3-for-18 at Laurel's spring stand, but also had 11 horses scratched over the same time period.
“We had some nice horses lined up for the last few weeks, actually. We've been a little bit unlucky with races coming off the turf. We had a lot of very live horses that had to scratch, which is unfortunate, but it all came together at the start of this meet and hopefully it can continue,” Lynch said. “We've got some nice rides coming up, so we're looking forward to that.”
One of those comes Saturday at Belmont Park, when Lynch will get another leg up on R. Larry Johnson's 8-year-old True Valour in the Jaipur (G1) sprinting six furlongs on the grass as part of the Belmont Stakes (G1) undercard. Trained by Motion, True Valour ended a 13-month gap between starts with a front-running triumph in the $100,000 King T. Leatherbury April 23 at Laurel.
“He was impressive. He was very sharp out of the gate in the King Leatherbury,” Lynch said. “We're very happy with him. He's been training great and we're taking a shot at a Grade 1. With these sprinters, you have to. This is a hardened old horse and he's been all around the world. They tried to stretch him out a lot in Europe and when he went to California, but he seems to be a sprinter. Graham has found a key to him and has revived him.”
Helen Alexander has been selected by the board of directors of the Thoroughbred Club of America as the 2021 Honor Guest, Club president Tony Lacy announced on June 10. Alexander will be honored by the Club at its 90th Testimonial Dinner.
“The Thoroughbred Club of America is excited to name Helen C. Alexander as our 2021 Honor Guest,” said Lacy. “Helen's lifelong passion for Thoroughbred racing and breeding, born in her family's legacy and stoked in charting her own successful path, is guided by her dedication to service and excellence. Her commitment to improving the breed, championing integrity and tirelessly working to better the sport has made her a respected industry leader, horsewoman and friend.”
The 90th Testimonial Dinner will be held at Keeneland on Saturday, Oct. 1, 2022. Designation as the 2021 award reflects postponements of the annual event caused by the COVID pandemic.
Named for her grandmother, Helen Campbell Kleberg, Helen C. Alexander comes from a long line of women with a strong sense of independence, adventure, and the outdoors, as well as a great love of horses. Her early years were spent in Pennsylvania riding and foxhunting with her siblings under the watchful eye of their mother, Helen Kleberg Groves.
Deeply rooted with lessons learned at the ancestral home King Ranch, Alexander experienced first hand the importance of strong breeding, as well as being a good steward of the land. The first grandchild of Robert J. Kleberg Jr., she was fortunate to spend time with him as he shared his theories about breeding, the importance of pedigree and helped her to develop a keen eye for the good conformation necessary to breed champion racehorses.
For nearly two decades, Alexander managed the Thoroughbred division of King Ranch in Lexington, Ky. In addition to great racing success, King Ranch Farm was annually among the leading consignors of yearlings.
Alexander has continued this pattern of success as an owner, breeder, and sales-topping consignor at her Middlebrook Farm. Notable horses she has owned, bred, or co-bred include champions Althea, Yamanin Paradise, Diapason, and two-time Eclipse champion Covfefe, as well as Grade 1 winners Arch, Aldiza, Acoma, and Breeders' Cup Classic winner Bayern. Consistently, her Middlebrook yearlings, now included in the Gainesway consignments, ranked among those with the highest percentage of stakes horses sold at auction.
Dual champion Covfefe was bred by Alexander-Groves Thoroughbreds
Throughout her notable career, Alexander has devoted years of service to the Thoroughbred industry. She has served as a steward of The Jockey Club and a trustee of the Jockey Club Safety Net Foundation, past president of the Thoroughbred Club of America and the Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders Association. She has been a key board member of Keeneland Association, Kentucky Thoroughbred Association, Breeders' Cup, Horsemen's Benevolent and Protective Association, the Gluck Equine Research Foundation at the University of Kentucky, and chair of the Graded Stakes Committee.
As chair of the Bluegrass Land Conservancy, Alexander has been a leader in conserving more than 30,000 acres of Central Kentucky land. She was also involved in gaining official designation of 18 miles of Old Frankfort Pike as a National Scenic Byway. Alexander thus continues her grandfather's tradition of conservation, with a great respect for nature, the land, and water. In her current role as chair of the Kleberg Foundation, Alexander pursues the support of wildlife and habitat conservation, medical and scientific research, veterinary research as well as improving the quality of life in South Texas communities through various local organizations.
The Thoroughbred Club Testimonial Dinner was inaugurated in 1932, the year the Club was founded, to recognize distinguished contributions of leadership as well as success in the Thoroughbred industry. The first recipient was Col. E. R. Bradley, and other winners include William Woodward Sr., three generations of the Hancock family of Claiborne Farm, plus Ted Bassett, Shug McGaughey, Alice Chandler, Chris McCarron, and The Honorable Brereton C. Jones. To learn more about The Thoroughbred Club of America, visit www.thethoroughbredclub.com.
