Former main league baseball participant Jayson Werth clearly was excited about his present place within the sports activities panorama final week when he known as a reporter to speak concerning the sport he loves. The dialog opened with Shohei Ohtani’s mind-bending Recreation 4 within the Nationwide League Championship Sequence.
“There are good games and great games and then there is what he did, absolutely incredible. We’ll never see something like that again,” Werth mentioned.
Provided that the Dodgers and Toronto Blue Jays, each groups he performed for, have been about prepared to start out the World Sequence, you’ll have thought that it was within the entrance, middle and again of his thoughts. However, no, he has a brand new favourite sport.
His love of baseball has been supplanted by the Sport of Kings.
“Wait, I’ve got to go bid on a horse, I’ll be back in two minutes,” Werth mentioned from a yearling sale at Keeneland, Ky.
After a pair minutes he got here again, apologetic at abruptly leaving the dialog.
“We got him, he’s a Good Magic colt,” Werth mentioned. “Good breeding on both sides [the colt and mare], $110,000. He’ll go in the fund for Icon.”
Icon Racing is the identify of the brand new horse racing syndicate that Werth has shaped. It has put collectively round 25-30 traders keen to place up $100,000 to take an opportunity on younger horses with the dream of taking part in on the largest stage — the Triple Crown. It’s a partnership the place, presently, the traders don’t must pay any extra money for issues similar to coaching or veterinary payments. Different founding members of Icon embrace media/tech exec Ian Ritchie, longtime baseball agent Jeff Berry and former MLB pitcher Shawn Kelly.
The Philadelphia Phillies’ Jayson Werth sprays teammates within the clubhouse as they have fun their win over Colorado Rockies in Recreation 4 of the 2009 NLCS.
(Jack Dempsey / Related Press)
Werth thinks the expertise of being a horse proprietor beats being a participant.
“I tell people if you play professional sports you do it on the field with teammates and you wave to your family and friends,” he mentioned. “In horse racing, you do it with your family and friends. Whether you win or lose, you get to do it with people you want to do it with. That’s what makes the sport so amazing.”
Werth shall be at Del Mar this weekend attending what might be known as the World Sequence of racing — the Breeders’ Cup. He has a horse along with his first secure Two Eight Racing, of which he’s the principal proprietor. His taking part in quantity was 28 and his horse is appropriately named Outfielder. He’s scheduled to run Friday within the Juvenile Turf.
Werth didn’t got down to enter the world of horse racing. It was an outgrowth of taking part in golf with some associates who occurred to personal thoroughbreds. He didn’t suppose it will be his ardour, only a technique to have enjoyable with some associates.
Dornoch, with jockey Luis Saez, crosses the end line to win the 156th working of the Belmont Stakes on June 8, 2024, in Saratoga Springs, N.Y.
(Seth Wenig / Related Press)
“I went to a race and I didn’t really know much about the sport,” Werth mentioned. “I had heard about the Triple Crown and Kentucky Derby, just like everybody. But I went to a race and thought this is cool. And then I went to a race owning a horse and I went ‘I get it. This is it. This is what it’s all about.’
“You’re back on the team. You go in the paddock and the trainer and jockey come and you listen to the plans for the race. It’s like a huddle. Go team. The horses are there. The jockey gets on the horse and bam you think this horse is mine. I own part of this horse. It’s like your teammate.”
There’s an outdated saying that the three stuff you by no means wish to purchase are an airplane, a restaurant or a race horse. Werth mentioned he by no means received that memo.
Werth was primarily investing in fillies till he met coach Danny Gargan on the Keeneland gross sales.
“He told me I should try and get in on a colt and get in on the Derby dream,” Werth mentioned. “And that’s where I got 10% of Dornoch. Over the course of those two years, it really transformed and changed my life.”
Dornoch was in a position to make the Kentucky Derby subject courtesy of successful the Remsen at Aqueduct and the Fountain of Youth at Gulfstream.
Werth says he by no means received nervous taking part in sports activities, referring to his temperament as stoic.
Former professional baseball participant Jayson Werth attends Kentucky Derby 151 at Churchill Downs on Could 03.
(Jeff Schear / Getty Photos for Churchill Downs)
“In horse racing I’m the exact opposite,” he mentioned. “It’s like I’m having a mental breakdown. I’m a nervous wreck. I’m sweating. When Dornoch was going into the gate at the Kentucky Derby, I literally couldn’t breathe. I was hyperventilating and I almost passed out. I’ve never experienced anything like that in my life.”
Dornoch completed tenth within the 20-horse subject, going off at odds of 23-1. He by no means contended for the lead and ran principally midpack or close to the again.
5 weeks later, Dornoch was entered within the Belmont Stakes, the third leg of the Triple Crown. The betting public didn’t suppose a lot of him sending him off at 18-1 within the 10-horse subject. He broke alertly taking the lead on the far flip however then giving it up earlier than the stretch solely to rally again and win the race.
“He was the second longest shot in the field, so it felt like a kick in the gut because I felt like we had a horse that could win the Derby,” Werth mentioned. “Next thing we’re not even in the conversation for the Belmont. Anytime you’re an extreme underdog like that and you win, you feel vindicated and excited. You feel like you did something that nobody thought you could do.”
Werth known as upon his personal experiences in baseball and tried to use them to racing. When he was with the Phillies in 2007, basic supervisor Pat Gillick known as Werth to his workplace because the workforce was out of choices and it appeared as if Werth needed to step up massive. He had been suffering from accidents and an anemic bat. Gillick mentioned plain and easy this was his final likelihood in skilled baseball.
“So, I went out there and hit like .420 for August and didn’t come off the field for 10 years.”
Werth had the identical discuss with Dornoch, and based mostly on the result it was as if the 3-year-old colt understood.
“Two days before the Belmont, I went into Dornoch’s stall and said, ‘This is it, this is your last chance in horse racing,’” Werth recalled. “‘If you don’t do it now, your opportunity is gone.’ He’s a big mean dude. He’s tough, he’ll bite you. So, I grabbed him by his halter and gave that talk and patted him on the nose. … And he went out there and got it done. It’s such an amazing story.”
Jayson Werth, left, and a big group surrounds horse Dornoch and jockey Luis Saez within the winner’s circle on the Belmont Stakes on June 8, 2024, in Saratoga Springs, N.Y.
(Julia Nikhinson / Related Press)
As for the long run, Werth continues to be making an attempt to determine issues out.
“This is something we wanted to do just for fun and it has been awesome,” Werth mentioned. “I still don’t know anything about this sport and I don’t claim to know anything about this sport. I’m just having a great time competing at the highest level. I love competition. I love every second of being in this sport.
“As far as goals, we’re still trying to figure out what direction we are going with everything. People who are partners love being in it and it’s an opportunity to own horses. I tell people with Dornoch, I owned 10% of the horse but had 100% of the fun. That’s what we’re offering at Icon Racing.”
As for the Dodgers, who he performed for in 2004-2005, within the World Sequence?
“The Dodgers released me, it’s hard to root for the Dodgers.”
