Jayson Werth was conspicuously absent from a small reunion of the Philadelphia Phillies’ 2008 World Sequence staff in London on Saturday. Let’s simply say he had a schedule battle.
Werth was busy watching Dornoch, a horse he co-owns, breaking by means of 17-to-1 odds to win the 2024 Belmont Stakes. Dornoch moved to the entrance early and battled it out with co-favorite Seize the Gray till the Preakness Stakes winner light after the ultimate flip.
The win will land Werth and his co-owners $1.2 million in prize cash.
You possibly can see Werth watching the victory from his field right here:
An ecstatic Werth was requested by Fox Sports activities after the race how Dornoch’s win in comparison with successful a World Sequence with the Phillies in 2008. He answered within the affirmative:
“I might put it proper up there with successful on the greatest stage. Horse racing is essentially the most underrated sport on this planet, bar none. It is the most important sport, you’ve got obtained the Derby, the Preakness, the Belmont. We simply gained the Belmont. That is pretty much as good because it will get in horse racing, that is pretty much as good because it will get in sports activities.”
How Jayson Werth grew to become part-owner of Dornoch
Per the Philadelphia Inquirer, Werth obtained into horse racing in 2021 whereas attempting to fight a post-retirement malaise and ended up shopping for into Dornoch in 2022. The acquisition was made at Keeneland’s September yearling sale in Kentucky, one of many business’s greatest auctions, however Werth advised the Inquirer his involvement happened by chance:
“I’m extraordinarily fortunate to be concerned, and the best way that I obtained in on Dornoch is a loopy story,” Werth stated. “I went to the fitting facet of the bar as an alternative of the left facet of the bar. I simply occurred to purchase the fitting man a drink and began speaking to him.”
That particular person reportedly advised Werth that Dornoch is the brother of 2023 Kentucky Derby winner Mage and has a pedigree that features 2008 Derby and Preakness Stakes winner Massive Brown. He supplied Werth a ten% stake in a horse that offered for $325,000.
That funding greater than paid off Saturday. Earlier than that, Dornoch positioned tenth within the Kentucky Derby and sat out the Preakness Stakes.
Werth performed 15 seasons in MLB, largely with the Phillies and Washington Nationals. He was among the many Most worthy gamers on Philadelphia’s 2008 World Sequence staff, hitting .273/.363/.498 and earned All-Star honors in 2009. One yr later, he left the staff in free company for the Nationals on a seven-year, $126 million contract.
Whereas his tenure with the Nationals wasn’t as profitable, Werth performed a big function within the staff’s rise from NL East doormat to a perennial division contender, reaching the playoffs 4 time in his seven years with the staff. He retired on the age of 38 in 2017, when his contract expired.
