Travis Kelce isn’t a one trick pony — and his latest business venture includes horses and a nod to girlfriend Taylor Swift.
Team Valor International founder and CEO, Barry Irwin, announced on Tuesday, August 27, that Kelce, 34, recently acquired a “significant share” of their 3-year-old gelding, Swift Delivery, according to Bloodhorse. (Swift Delivery is owned by Team Valor and Gary Barber.)
Kelce isn’t the only money man who recently came on board. The Zoldan family, which owns Phantom Fireworks, was also named as one of Swift Delivery’s new shareholders.
While Swift Delivery was named before Kelce began dating the singer, 34, in summer 2023, the connection to Swift hardly feels like a coincidence. (Kelce hasn’t commented on his horse racing venture or spoken about the animal’s moniker.)
Earlier this year, Kelce was the guest of Bruce Zoldan and his son Alex Zoldan at the 2024 Kentucky Derby. The Kansas City Chiefs tight end gushed about the experience on a May episode of his “New Heights” podcast, hinting that horse racing might be his new passion.
“I’m a Derby guy now, man,” Travis told his brother, Jason Kelce, at the time. “It was so much fun.”
Travis was excited about the “dope experience” and being “part of the environment” as a whole. However, he was even more thrilled to rub elbows with the Zoldan family after they previously won the Kentucky Derby in 2011 with Animal Kingdom. The Zoldans were working with Team Valor at the time of the win.
“They have been ingrained in the Derby for 30 years,” Travis explained. “The Zoldans are rightfully treated like royalty there. They made it easy and fun to come out there and enjoy the Derby.”
The NFL player was also giddy about winning almost $100,000 when he bet on Forever Young at the track.
Over the past year, Travis hasn’t only won big on horse racing. He hit the romance jackpot with girlfriend Swift, who he went public with last fall. Swift was spotted at 13 of Travis’ football games last season, including the Chiefs’ 2024 Super Bowl matchup against the San Francisco 49ers in Las Vegas in February.
Travis has also supported Swift’s career, joining her on several of her Eras Tour stops all over the world. During his NFL off season, Travis also made his concert debut by joining Swift on stage during a June performance in London.
“You wanna keep things private, but at the same time, I’m not here to, like, hide anything,” Travis said of his relationship with Swift on the “Bussin’ With the Boys” podcast in June. “That’s my girl. You know what I mean? That’s my lady, so it’s, like, I’m proud of that.”
Swift, meanwhile, has documented their romance in song on a few tracks off her The Tortured Poets Department album. (The record also details Swift’s April 2023 split from Joe Alwyn after six years of dating.)
“They have daily FaceTimes when they’re apart and send cute texts to each other,” a source exclusively told Us Weekly in June as the couple celebrated their first anniversary. “A year [into their relationship] there is such an ease between them. It seems like they’ve been together longer because they are so in tune.”
Earlier this month, Swift showed that she and Travis are going strong as they celebrated her tour break at her house in Rhode Island. Jason, 36, and his wife, Kylie Kelce, as well as Swift’s BFFs Blake Lively, Ryan Reynolds, Gigi Hadid and her boyfriend, Bradley Cooper, were all seen on the property.
