Award-Winning Author, Journalist, And Lawyer Toby Dies At 73 – Horse Racing News

Milton C. Toby was a Renaissance guy who embraced lifetime and by no means did anything at all midway. Tall, lanky and a bit Lincolnesque in look, his wit was dry, his humor brief, his passions intense. Toby’s pursuits had been a lot of, some profound, some whimsical, ranging from Star Wars, golfing, Jack the Ripper, and Fiona the hippo, to journey, regulation, publishing, legal justice, animals, and mysteries. Higher than all he loved to write—most notably about Thoroughbred racing, to the eternal advantage of the sport.

Toby was born on Oct 26, 1949, to William and Laura Susan Toby of Campbellsville, Ky. While elevated around American Saddlebreds, Thoroughbreds grew to become his passion. Days following graduating at 22 from the University of Kentucky with a degree in Animal Science, he approved a sporting activities crafting occupation at the Aiken Common in South Carolina. His first assignment experienced to do with the Belmont Stakes, and he was hooked.

A year later Toby was hired on at The Blood-Horse magazine back in his house state, just in advance of Secretariat’s historic 1973 Triple Crown bid. The 70s represented a golden period for racing, and Toby was there to witness it, photograph it, and publish about it. For 12 many years he honed his journalistic abilities, and towards the conclude of his Blood-Horse tenure he trekked west to supervise pictures for the Olympic Games’ equestrian events in Los Angeles.

In 1986 Toby launched a freelance profession that would consider him close to the world and into circumstances not for the weak of coronary heart. As a photojournalist, he labored while dwelling abroad in China, Costa Rica, Colombia—writing for, among the other publications, the well-known (some could say notorious) Soldier of Fortune magazine.

Returning stateside, Toby met and married Dr. Roberta Dwyer and by his mid-forties was on the lookout for additional worlds to conquer. He selected the lawful job, graduating in 1995 from the College of Kentucky Faculty of Regulation. His subsequent apply would be extensive-ranging and effective, encompassing equine legislation to death penalty litigation.

Starting in 2003 Toby took his skills to the classroom, training at numerous Kentucky faculties and universities, and for a time chaired the Central Kentucky Bar Association’s equine law division. During these a long time, he also served as President of the American Society of Journalists and Authors, advocating on behalf of freelance writers, and sat on the board of the American Horse Publications (AHP).

His insatiably curious mind ultimately drew him again to racing. He cherished practically nothing much more than an unsolved thriller he could sink his journalistic chops into and was especially intrigued by the juicy chilly situations served up by the Sport of Kings. This is the place he shined brightest. In 2011 Toby was honored with the industry’s most worthwhile literary prize, the $10,000 Dr. Tony Ryan Reserve Award, for Dancer’s Picture, The Forgotten Tale of the 1968 Kentucky Derby, a meticulously investigated tale of racing’s most renowned doping scandal. Subsequent honors would consist of a 2018 E book of the Calendar year nod from AHP for Having Shergar, about the kidnapping of the 1981 Epsom Derby winner. Toby’s awards by way of the decades were being lots of, but the true winners have been his audience.

By 2023, Toby experienced penned hundreds of content (like 125 address tales for The Blood-Horse) and authored nine publications. In his early seventies, his competencies remained in whole bloom, and he continued to drive himself. A thirty day period prior to passing, he sent a one-hour Zoom lecture about copyright in advance of an AHP conference. As usually, Toby chose to blaze his own route all over his life—as a attorney, professor, photographer, entire world traveler, public speaker, blogger and, in the end, as 1 of the finest investigative reporters horse racing has at any time regarded.

Next month, the University Push of Kentucky will publish Toby’s tenth book—Unnatural Means, The Record of Performance-Boosting Medication in Racing. It is fitting that this posthumous quantity arrives at the conclusion of a exceptional half-century career, as Unnatural Potential will stand as his magnus opus, a operate of amazing breadth, perception, and great importance to the business he so loved.

Milt Toby passed absent at his dwelling in Georgetown, Kentucky, on July 24, 2023, following a courageous battle with cancer. At his aspect were his spouse Roberta, Echo the Doberman, and Winston the surveillance cat. He is also survived by extended spouse and children and the quite a few pals who cherished him.

No provider or visitation is scheduled, despite the fact that a accumulating of remembrance may be introduced afterwards. Donations in his title can be created to Bluegrass Treatment Navigators, Lexington, KY.