Horse racing gives Jayson Werth those competitive juices he misses from his Phillies years

Jayson Werth hopped up and down, screamed, hugged his family, and, finally, cried as his long-shot horse won the Belmont Stakes. Dornoch, the first colt purchased by the former Phillies outfielder, was an afterthought in June after a poor showing at the Kentucky Derby.

And now the horse was waiting in the winner’s circle for Werth, who never let his belief in the horse fade. Maybe that’s because Werth knew where Dornoch had been.

Years earlier, the Dodgers called Werth when his baseball career was at a crossroads. They told him just before midnight in December 2006 that he had been released.

Once a premier prospect, Werth saw his career stunted after a fastball in 2005 spring training fractured his wrist. He tried to play through the injury, struggled, and then missed the entire 2006 season. Like his horse, he was an afterthought. The Dodgers no longer needed him.

“It was tough,” Werth said. “You play good, you get hurt, and now you don’t have a job. Now what?”

Werth soaked in his misery on the couch, pondering his future late into the night. He was one of baseball’s top rookies in 2004 and hit two homers in the postseason. Just like Dornoch before the Kentucky Derby, everything seemed so promising.

Werth processed his disappointment as he fell asleep on the couch and was awoken early the next morning by a ringing telephone. The unemployed ballplayer had no idea who would be calling him so early.

“That was back when you had answering machines,” Werth said. “The answering machine picks up, and I hear, ‘Jayson.’ As soon as I hear ‘Jayson,’ I say, ‘It’s Pat Gillick’ as he’s saying, ‘It’s Pat Gillick.’”

Werth played 15 seasons in the big leagues, won a World Series with the Phillies in 2008, and reached October four more times with the Nationals. When he retired in 2018, Werth learned that there was nothing that could replicate the feelings he felt on the field. Not tennis. Not golf. Not his business ventures.

So he was a bit surprised by the way he felt a few years ago for one of his first races as a horse owner. He spent the week checking on the horse, talked to the trainer, walked around the paddock, and watched his thoroughbred walk to the starting gate.

“I’m watching and I’m like, ‘I’m nervous. What’s happening?’” said Werth, who said he never felt nerves as a ballplayer. “Then they run. Win, lose, whatever. But it’s like, ‘That was a rush. Man, that was good.’ That’s a Tuesday afternoon at Tampa Bay Downs in a really low-level horse race.”

» READ MORE: Former Phillies star Jayson Werth fell in love with horse racing. Now he owns a Triple Crown contender.

The stakes were low, but the juices were high. Werth found what he called the perfect sport for former athletes. He felt like he was back in South Philly again.

“Once you retire from professional sports, it’s kind of sad that you don’t have an outlet anymore. It’s over,” Werth said. “You can’t run out on the field and have 50,000 Philly fans cheering for you, or if you go sign in Washington, you can’t come to Philly and have 50,000 Philly fans booing your face off because you just beat them again. You can’t do that. Horse racing is literally the only thing that I can do that gives me those feelings again. It’s addictive. It’s wild. And it’s so much fun.”

Werth was hooked, buying up more horses and traveling to races across the country. He hit it big last year with Dornoch, who earned more than $2.4 million. Werth now wants others to join him.

Fueled by Dornoch’s success, Werth launched a new venture — Icon Racing — that is seeking investors, especially former athletes like himself, to join the team.

Ownership syndicates are common in horse racing, as more backers mean more horses and more chances to win. Werth found quick success without a huge group of investors. He’s hoping to be back for more with a bigger team. For Werth, it’s a way to bring some friends into the fold.

“This is an incredibly difficult sport to get into and to understand,” Werth said. “What I’ve learned in this short period of time is that no one has any idea how to do this. Sadly, they don’t do it because there’s not an easy way. I believe in it enough to say, ‘Hey, guys. This is how you do it, and this is a good way to dip your toe into the water.’ It’s a way to give these peers of mine an opportunity of having those feelings of being back on the field.”

Werth flew to England in the summer of 2023 to visit Chase Utley, his former locker mate in Philadelphia who moved across the pond a year earlier. They played golf in Scotland, watched a horse race on Werth’s laptop, and talked about the horse Werth just purchased. The horse, which did not have a name, was Werth’s first colt. He had big plans for the horse and made Utley promise that he would come to the Kentucky Derby to see the horse run.

“Of course, he didn’t,” Werth said of Utley.

» READ MORE: Chase Utley won’t stay in London forever, and the Phillies would love to lure him home

Werth returned home from seeing Utley and called the horse’s trainer. He wanted to know if they named him yet. They named him last week, Werth was told. The horse was Dornoch.

“I said ‘Like the golf course?’” Werth said.

Yes, after the famed golf course in Scotland. Werth asked when they named him. Last Wednesday, they said. That happened to be the same day Werth and Utley teed off at the famed course. Werth already thought his horse was special. Now he knew it was.

“It’s really hard not to believe in a horse when you have all these things lined up,” Werth said. “You have to believe in it.”

Dornoch won a big race in March in Florida and entered the Kentucky Derby as a hopeful. But Werth’s horse finished in 10th place, 18 lengths behind the winner. He didn’t run in the Preakness Stakes, and Werth felt the horse racing industry had moved on from Dornoch as the colt readied to run in the Belmont. Dornoch was like a once-promising ballplayer who fell asleep on his couch.

“No one was betting on him,” Werth said, as Dornoch had the second longest odds in the Belmont. “People talked about him like he was an outcast in the sport. There weren’t a whole lot of expectations, but we still believed. We were really confident. Knowing how much was at stake and what could still come of all this, we were nervous as hell.”

Werth woke up the morning of the Kentucky Derby covered in hives — “I haven’t had hives since I was a kid. I was like, ‘What’s going on?’” — but he had fine skin for the Belmont. He was just nervous. Finally, the race started, and Dornoch won. Werth, surrounded by his family in the owner’s box, acted like Brad Lidge just struck out Erik Hinske.

“That’s what’s great about horse racing,” Werth said. “In professional sports or any sport, when you win, you do it with your teammates. Or if it’s an individual sport, you do it by yourself. Then afterward, you wave to your family or friends or see them in the tunnel.

“In horse racing, you’re literally in it together with the people you want to be around. Your friends, your loved ones. Your family, your wife, your kids, your best friends. You’re literally grabbing on to each other and cheering the horse down the stretch together. Win or lose, you do it together. That’s what’s different about horse racing than other sports. You ... live and die with your people. It’s an incredible experience.”

“It’s a way to give these peers of mine an opportunity of having those feelings of being back on the field.”

Dornoch followed the Belmont by winning the $1 million Haskell in July — Utley was with Werth for this race — and finished fourth in August at the Travers Stakes in Saratoga, N.Y. Dornoch retired in September, capping a great career for a horse that seemed forgotten just months earlier.

“Dornoch is maybe the coolest guy I’ve ever met,” Werth said. “He’s like a family pet. He wins the Belmont, and there’s not a dry eye anywhere walking from our table to the winner’s circle. Because what he did was incredible and because we love the guy so much. It’s just an emotional roller coaster, and it’s so much fun.”

Werth listened as Gillick finished his message and then called back. Gillick was Baltimore’s general manager when the Orioles drafted Werth out of high school. Then the GM of the Phillies, Gillick wanted to give Werth a path back to the majors.

Werth already knew the Phillies from playing against them. The players were about the same age as him. Werth told Gillick they could win it all. They met the next day, and Werth talked to Charlie Manuel. The Phillies weren’t offering Werth anything more than a spot on the bench. They already had starters in the outfield. There were other easier opportunities for Werth on teams that were not as talented.

“But I still believed in myself,” Werth said. “I thought I could play.”

He started the 2007 season hitting .235 with a .686 OPS in his first 100 plate appearances before missing all of July with a wrist injury. He returned to the Phillies on Aug. 1 in Chicago, and Gillick pulled him into an office at Wrigley Field. Seven months earlier, Gillick called to give him a chance. Now, the Hall of Fame executive wanted Werth to know that this would be his last chance in professional baseball.

“It was a similar situation to what Dornoch was in the Belmont,” Werth said.

Werth rallied, just like his horse, and hit .414 in August. He became an everyday player, helped the Phillies chase down the Mets in September, and emerged as one of the more productive players of his generation. From 2008 to 2014, Werth ranked 35th in wins above replacement among position players. He signed with the Nationals after the 2010 season for $126 million. Not bad for a guy who fell asleep on the couch when his career was in question.

“It starts with a belief,” Werth said. “You have to believe it.”

Werth believed in himself when baseball seemed to pass him by. He believed in Dornoch when everyone else thought the horse was finished. And now he wants other former ballplayers to learn to love the sport that makes him feel like he’s playing again.

“To go out in the Belmont and prove it when basically everyone in the industry said he had no chance,” Werth said, “for me, personally, it hit home pretty good. It’s a special story with a special horse. The horse becomes a part of your life.

“So when you run in a race like the Belmont, it’s one of the biggest races in sports. It’s as big as playing in a World Series game or a Super Bowl or the NBA Finals. It’s that type of feeling. There’s a lot at stake, so you have these emotions. Then you run, you win, and you freak out. You do it with your people.”