Milt Toby, a member of NTWAB, died July 24 at his home in Georgetown, Ky. following a battle with cancer. He was 73. Our parting story includes material from what he termed his biography at miltonctoby.com.

Toby was an attorney and award-winning author who wrote about Thoroughbred racing for more than 40 years. His ninth book, published by the University Press of Kentucky and released in Fall 2018, is "Taking Shergar: Thoroughbred Racing’s Most Famous Cold Case."

According to Toby's biography, on a miserably cold and rainy night in February 1983 a gang of armed men almost certainly from the Provisional Irish Repubican Army, entered Ballymany Stud near Kildare, Ireland, and made off with Epsom Derby winner Shergar. Days away from starting his second season at stud, Shergar was one of the most valuable horses in the world. The thieves demanded a multi-million-dollar ransom; when the ransom wasn’t paid, the horse disappeared, never to be found. "Taking Shergar" recounts the remarkable story of horse racing’s most famous cold case.

According to BloodHorse, Toby's tenth and final book is due for publication in August by University Press of Kentucky: "Unnatural Ability, The History of Performance-Enhancing Drugs in Racing."

"It is fitting that this posthumous volume comes at the end of a remarkable half-century career, as 'Unnatural Ability' will stand as his magnus opus, a work of extraordinary breadth, insight, and importance to the industry he so loved," BloodHorse said.

Milt’s previous books include "Dancer’s Image: The Forgotten Story of the 1968 Kentucky Derby." Toby's work won the $10,000 first prize in the Dr. Tony Ryan Book Award honoring the year’s best book about Thoroughbred racing, and an American Horse Publications award as the best equine book of the year. "Noor: A Champion Thoroughbred’s Unlikely Journey from California to Kentucky" was Milt’s second American Horse Publications book award winner. Toby also authored "Cañonero II: The Rags to Riches Story of the Kentucky Derby’s Most Improbable Winner," a book he took special care to mention in his list of accomplishments.

Toby, whose life and work define the word eclectic, also was a contributor to Thrillers: 100 Must Reads, published by International Thriller Writers and named USA Book News Book of the Year. Thrillers also was a finalist for the year’s Edgar, Anthony, and McCavity awards.

He was president of the American Society of Journalists and Authors, the nation’s leading organization representing freelance writers, from 2018 to 2020; and was a popular speaker discussing the business side of writing, copyright, publishing contracts, and other legal issues affecting writers. Among Toby's many other accomplishments, he graduated from the University of Kentucky College of Law in 1995.

Toby , who was born in 1949, worked for BloodHorse for 12 years after joining the magazine in 1973; supervised photography for the Olympic Games' equestrian events in Los Angeles in 1984; in 1986 began a freelance photo-journalism career that took him around the world writing for, among other publications, Soldier of Fortune magazine; went to law school in 1992; starting in 2003 taught at several Kentucky colleges and universities; and for a time chaired the Central Kentucky Bar Association's equine law division as well as being president of the American Society of Journalists and Authors.

Toby lived with his wife, equine veterinarian Roberta Dwyer, whom he called "an accomplished author and editor in her own right;" and a modest but much-loved pair of pets: Echo the Doberman and Winston, a gray and white cat that, in Toby's words, "took over the household."

According to BloodHorse no service or visitation is scheduled at the moment. A gathering of remembrance may be announced later. Donations in his name can be made to Bluegrass Care Navigators in Lexington, Ky.

Curated and additional content by Dick Downey