Jayson Werth enjoyed a 15-year major-league baseball career, becoming a World Series champion with the Philadelphia Phillies in 2008 and an MLB All-Star the following year. Such achievements may seem difficult to achieve, but Werth says he has found something that matches those highlights.
On June 8, the retired outfielder became a co-owner in a classic when he teamed with other partners to win the $2 million Belmont Stakes (G1) with Dornoch in front of 50,000 fans at Saratoga Race Course.
“I would put this up there with anything I’ve ever done. This is the pinnacle of the sport,” said the owner of stable name Two Eight Racing. “Horse racing is the most underrated sport. It’s the biggest sport. The emotions you feel when you play in a knockout match, when you win a World Cup match Series, it’s the pinnacle of the sport and this is where it IS at.”
Jayson Werth at the Belmont Stakes at Saratoga Race Course
He wasn’t the only one who felt overjoyed.
Randy Hill of RA Hill Stable, a Werth partner, said: “No one better wake me up. I’m going crazy. I’ll tell you right now – let me keep dreaming “.
The other owners in Danny Gargan are trained Good magic colt includes West Paces Racing, Belmar Racing and Breeding, and Pine Racing Stables. Along with Hill and Werth, the group collaborated on the $325,000 purchase of Oracle Bloodstock.
Gargan was attracted to the colt consigned by Runnymede Farm at the 2022 Keeneland September Yearling Sales, and Werth recalled during the Belmont Stakes press conference when he ran into Gargan at the bar at Keeneland during the sale after Werth purchased the canard in the sale.
Gargan and others said, “You should get into this horse. He’s going to be a Derby horse,” recalls Werth, who was new to the sport at the time.
“Me too,” Werth recalls with some skepticism.
“That’s right, Jayson. They always say that,” said the more experienced Hill.
Except it was proven right. Dornoch entered this year’s Kentucky Derby (G1), like his full brother magician did when winning the race a year earlier in 2023.
Dornoch would not have the same luck, finishing 10th after overcoming the dreaded inside position in Churchill Downs. That race came after the disappointing Blue Grass Stakes (G1). Keeneland when he finished fourth when the ranking strategy backfired.
He should have better luck at Belmont, pushing the pace of the Preakness Stakes (G1) winner. Embrace the gray before crossing a mile into the race. Overtaken by the runner-up early Mind frame , he fought back to beat him by half a length under Luis Saez. Dornoch proved to be a resilient winner, similar to his victory in the 2023 Remsen Stakes (G1) at Water racetrack when he bites Sierra Leone with a nose.
Sierra Leone finished third in the Belmont Stakes after a runner-up finish in the Kentucky Derby.
“Want to see a great race,” Hill said. One of the greatest races I ever saw was when he won against Remsen. “And I know we’re going to win one of these big races.”
The owners credited Gargan and his team with working to overcome various minor obstacles with Dornoch, including a quarter crack.
Werth compares the experience of owning a horse to tailgating a teammate during an important baseball game.
“You have guys on the field, and someone hits a double into the gap, and you’re cheering for your guy trying to score at first base. That’s kind of what it sounds like, but it’s like two minutes, not 10 seconds or four seconds, whatever.”
Watch Jayson Werth as our cameras capture him reacting in real time to Dornoch winning the @BelmontStakes!
Disappointing score of 17-1 for the jockey @luissaezpty And @GarganRacing. pic.twitter.com/jawJazwLGQ
– America’sBestRacing (@ABRLive) June 8, 2024
Werth said that while betting on horse racing is fun, ownership is a “game changer.”
“The sport is just scratching the surface of what it can be and where it can go, and we need to get more retired athletes into the sport,” he said.
