Saved by a missed field goal, owner’s Derby colt Further Ado rises at Spendthrift

Mark Toothaker’s road to the Kentucky Derby started with a laugh, a seizure and a hospital visit that ended up saving his life.

Toothaker, a Spendthrift Farm horseman based in Lexington, Kentucky, was watching the New York Giants and New England Patriots on Monday Night Football on Dec. 1, 2025, when Younghoe Koo’s bizarre 47-yard field-goal miss set off laughter that quickly turned into a seizure. Doctors found a benign brain tumor, and after a transfer to the University of Kentucky hospital, surgeons removed it with no lasting damage. Toothaker was back home by the end of the week, stunned that an ugly NFL moment had turned into a medical turning point. “Saved my life” is how he described the kick.

There was another layer to the story at home. His wife, Malory, a nurse at a rehabilitation hospital who works for a brain-injury doctor, was at his side that night. Toothaker later said he had no symptoms and no idea the tumor had shifted his brain 6 millimeters to the right. The diagnosis came only because of the seizure, a twist that makes the Derby part of the story feel even more immediate.

That Derby part belongs to Further Ado, the Spendthrift colt now running as one of the more dangerous names on the trail to Derby 152. The chestnut, foaled March 15, 2023, is by Gun Runner out of Sky Dreamer and is trained by Brad H. Cox with John Velazquez aboard. Spendthrift Farm LLC, listed with Eric P. Gustavson, owns him, and the operation has another live Derby contender in Ted Noffey, giving the barn unusual depth heading into Louisville.

Further Ado has earned his way into the conversation the hard way. He won the $400,000 Kentucky Jockey Club Stakes (G2) at Churchill Downs on Nov. 29, 2025 by 1 3/4 lengths, then stamped himself as a serious player in the $1.23 million Blue Grass Stakes (G1) at Keeneland on April 4, winning by 11 lengths and posting a 105 Brisnet Speed rating. The Blue Grass carried 100 Kentucky Derby qualifying points to the winner, the kind of payoff that can change a colt’s entire spring. Updated profiles have his earnings around $1.07 million to $1.15 million after just six starts and three wins.

Churchill Downs said Further Ado had two works scheduled before the Derby, and that matters because the horse no longer looks like a nice prospect. He looks like a colt arriving at the right moment, with the right trainer, the right rider and a farm already carrying more than one live bullet. For Toothaker, the same bad kick that exposed a tumor now sits beside a colt peaking at exactly the right time.