Famous NBA Players Who Love Horse Racing

There is nothing that connects NBA players to horse racing. Yet, many NBA stars are quite passionate about the sport. But that’s understandable. Horse racing is exciting and prestigious, and popular athletes enjoy attending other major sporting events.

But attending the Kentucky Derby once doesn’t make you a horse racing fan. In this article we are uncovering NBA stars that go beyond being a basic horse racing fan. We’re talking about people from the NBA that actually care about horse racing; they attend events frequently, and some even went beyond that and purchased a racehorse.

Nikola Jokić is the perfect example. Not many people know this, but for Jokić, horses were actually the first obsession, and he cares more about his horses than winning the NBA championship.

So, let’s dive deeper and uncover which NBA stars became hard-core horse racing fans.

Nikola Jokić

Let’s start with the biggest name and probably the weirdest person, who seems like they don’t want to play basketball at all. Yes, we’re talking about Nikola Jokić. Have you ever seen him talk about horse racing compared to basketball?

Yes, basketball made him famous, but horse racing appears to be the activity he would happily discuss after everyone stopped asking about basketball. However, Nikola Jokić isn’t interested in flashy horse racing events like the Kentucky Derby. He is all about a small farm that his family owns back in Serbia.

Nikola Jokić grew up around harness racing in Serbia and even competed as an amateur rider, but as he grew up, the jockey career he dreamt about was becoming impossible. After his success in the NBA, he invested a lot of money in the farm back home, and he now owns several Standardbreds.

In 2025, Jokić was filmed crying after Demon Dell’Est, representing his Dream Catcher operation, won a harness race in Serbia. A three-time NBA MVP crying over a horse race rather than an NBA championship celebration tells you everything you need to know about his passion.

Sadly, we cannot see Jokić’s horses in big American horse races like those at Churchill Downs or Del Mar. But we think it is only a matter of time when he and his family transition to American horse racing. 

Seeing his passion for the sport will make his horses a clear favorite when it comes to betting. The Del Mar summer season is on its way, and who knows, maybe Nikola will surprise us with a joint partnership horse on some of the races.

To learn more about Del Mar racing tips, entries, and race schedule, click the link below: https://www.twinspires.com/race-tracks/del-mar/ 

Tony Parker

Tony Parker took a different route into racing.

The four-time NBA champion bought his first racehorse in 2020 and quickly became much more than a celebrity owner with his name attached to a syndicate.

He founded Infinity Nine Horses, whose black-and-silver racing colors deliberately reference the San Antonio Spurs. His first winner, Best Win, scored at Clairefontaine in France in August 2020. Parker then moved rapidly into elite racing: Mangoustine won the 2022 Poule d’Essai des Pouliches, the French equivalent of the 1,000 Guineas, while other horses carrying his interests have competed at major meetings across Europe.

Parker has also worked with France Galop and racing broadcaster Equidia to promote the sport to new audiences. He explained that part of his goal was to make racing feel less like an inaccessible world reserved for extremely wealthy insiders.

Then he bought a Normandy stud farm.

Because apparently owning the horses was not enough.

Rashard Lewis

Rashard Lewis did not ease gently into Thoroughbred ownership. His first major racing partnership produced a Kentucky Derby starter.

Lewis, a two-time NBA All-Star who later won a championship with Miami, entered racing with longtime friend Jake Ballis. Their first horse, Join in the Dance, developed into a legitimate three-year-old and qualified for the 2009 Kentucky Derby.

The colt even led during portions of the race before finishing seventh behind 50-1 winner Mine That Bird. Churchill Downs’ official Derby records list Lewis among Join in the Dance’s owners.

That would have been enough for most first-time owners.

Lewis kept going.

He later co-owned Cigar Street, a talented son of Street Sense who became a multiple stakes winner and developed into a Breeders’ Cup Classic contender. Lewis stated that making the Derby with his first horse gave him “horse fever,” and he subsequently became interested not only in racing but also breeding and bloodstock.

Sam Bowie

Sam Bowie knows something about being compared with elite athletes.

He was selected second in the famous 1984 NBA Draft, one spot before Michael Jordan. Horse racing has been considerably kinder to his legacy.

Bowie became a longtime Standardbred owner and found an exceptional horse in pacing mare Hot Mess Express. As a three-year-old in 2021, she won 13 of 16 starts and earned more than $650,000, including victories in major stakes such as the Mistletoe Shalee and Nadia Lobell.

Bowie has spoken about the similarity between basketball players and racehorses: both are athletes with individual personalities, preparation requirements, and physical limits. His involvement has given him particular appreciation for everything that happens before a horse appears behind the starting gate.

Nicolas Batum

Nicolas Batum followed his longtime French national-team colleague Tony Parker into racing, although his involvement eventually took a slightly different direction.

France Galop granted Batum an owner’s license in 2021, complete with his own registered racing colors. Later that year, he and Parker jointly purchased Domaine de Quétiéville, an 80-hectare Thoroughbred stud farm in Normandy. Contemporary reports described both players as sufficiently serious about racing to move beyond simply buying shares in individual horses.

The partnership changed in 2026. Batum sold his stake in the company operating the stud to Parker, although L’Équipe reported that he retained his 49 percent interest in the separate company holding the property itself. The same report noted that Batum still held approval as a racehorse owner but did not currently own horses.

Yes, there aren’t many NBA stars who became full-on horse racing investors, but those that did become ones are quite passionate about the sport. This proves that horse racing is truly a global sport that knows nothing about boundaries.