Toby Keith, the late country music superstar, will be represented in the 2025 Kentucky Derby by longshot Render Judgment. Here's how it happened:

Now, just a little over a year after his death, that dream is about to become a reality. Keith died in February 2024, after several years of battling stomach cancer. He was 62 years old.

Only 20 out of more than 20,000 race horses will make it to the 2025 Kentucky Derby, and Keith's horse qualified.