How a whiffed NFL field goal helped save this Kentucky Derby horse expert’s life

When former New York Giants’ placekicker Younghoe Koo completely missed the ball on a field goal attempt against the New England Patriots last December, the broadcasters weren’t the only ones laughing.

Mark Toothaker, a stallion sales manager for Spendthrift Farm in Lexington, Kentucky, was on the couch cracking up with his wife, Malory, about the whiffed field goal and consequential turnover. 

Then, he felt something strange.

“I felt a shock in my left arm, and then I never felt anything else. Had no pain, anything after that,” Toothaker said.

He didn’t wake up for 25 minutes and was told at the hospital that he suffered a seizure. 

Doctors also revealed the shocking news that he had a brain tumor the size of a tennis ball.

Luckily, his wife Malory is a nurse.

“Just happened at absolutely the right place if it had to happen,” Toothaker said. “I could have died, I mean, I’m on the road all the time.”

The tumor was benign, and Toothaker was home from the hospital after a whirlwind 24 hours.

But as he prepared for this year’s Kentucky Derby, where he was hoping to be in the winner’s circle with Spendthrift’s horse, Further Ado, he still thought about Koo, and the whiff that led to the tumor’s discovery. 

Toothaker reached out to the kicker, who made the Pro Bowl and led the NFL in points with Atlanta in 2020.

“I’d love to have him come to the races, or come visit Spendthrift,” Toothaker said prior to Saturday’s race. “If he wants to go racing, we’ll go racing. If he wants to come out and see the mares and foals, it’d be my honor to come out and show him around this beautiful farm that we have here in Lexington, Kentucky.”

Further Ado ultimately finished Saturday’s Derby in 11th place.