Country music star Toby Keith, who died last year at age 62, was a big racing fan and dreamed of running a horse in the Kentucky Derby. On Saturday, Render Judgment, a horse partially owned by Keith, will leave the starting gate in the Run for the Roses. He will do so as one of the longest shots in the field.
15 Render Judgment (30-1)
- Trainer Kenny McPeek
- Jockey Julien Leparoux
- Last race Fifth in the Blue Grass Stakes by 4 lengths
- Career record 7 starts: 1 win, 2 seconds, 1 third
- Career earnings $250,672
- Best career Beyer Speed Figure 90 (2025 Blue Grass Stakes)
- Sire Blame
Below, we’ll dig further into Render Judgment as part of our series profiling all the horses competing in the 151st Kentucky Derby on Saturday, May 3. We’ll look back into his past performances, what questions need to be answered Saturday and analyze how the post draw affects his chances.
Kentucky Derby profiles 1 Citizen Bull | 2 Neoequos | 3 Final Gambit | 4 Rodriguez | 5 American Promise | 6 Admire Daytona | 7 Luxor Cafe | 8 Journalism | 9 Burnham Square | 10 Grande | 11 Flying Mohawk | 12 East Avenue | 13 Publisher | 14 Tiztastic | 15 Render Judgment | 16 Coal Battle | 17 Sandman | 18 Sovereignty | 19 Chunk of Gold | 20 Owen Almighty
Kentucky Derby picks Michelle Yu | Gene Menez | Jody Demling
What to know about Render Judgment
Trainer Kenny McPeek knows what is required of a horse to win the biggest races at Churchill Downs. Last year, he won both the Kentucky Derby and Kentucky Oaks with Mystik Dan and Thorpedo Anna, respectively. So when he was on the fence last week about starting Render Judgment in the 2025 Kentucky Derby off a dull effort in the Blue Grass Stakes, that spoke volumes.
Despite McPeek’s hesitancy, the owners of the horse decided to enter Render Judgment in the Derby, saying he will in tribute to Toby Keith, the country music star who owned a part of the horse prior to his death last year.
The storyline is touching, but touchy storylines alone don’t win Kentucky Derbies and there’s a reason why Render Judgment is a 30-1 longshot at TwinSpires and 1/ST BET. According to the Beyer Speed Figures, he is one of the slowest horses in the field. Only one other horse in the 20-horse field, Flying Mohawk, has a career-best Beyer figure lower than Render Judgment’s 90 and that horse has only run in grass and synthetic races, which tend to produce lower Beyers.
Also, Render Judgment has lost his last five starts by a combined 49 lengths and hasn’t won since October. The recent results haven’t been encouraging.
That said, the Blue Grass Stakes effort was his best yet, according to the Beyer figures, so perhaps an argument can be made that he’s coming off his best race. McPeek also said last week the horse is training better than ever. Render Judgment also is one of just three horses in the Derby field who owns a win at Churchill Downs. A second, however, would be a shocker.
Post draw analysis
Render Judgment doesn’t have much early speed (or late speed for that matter), so the No. 15 post position doesn’t affect his chances either way. He’ll likely be at the back of the field in the early going and then try to pick off tiring horses down the stretch, but his recent efforts don’t suggest he’ll be involved much in the race.
This news was originally published on this post .