Jayson Werth is familiar with pressure. The former MLB All-Star and World Series champion was in the spotlight several times throughout his career, but Werth has never been more nervous than he is this week.
This weekend, the 2024 Kentucky Derby will be run in Louisville, and Werth quite literally has a horse in the race. Werth co-owns Dornoch, the brother of 2023 Kentucky Derby champion Mage, which will be in the race this weekend.
“I never stressed out, I never worried about one [baseball] game as long as I lived,” Werth said during an appearance on MLB Network. “Coming into a horse race, it’s like, I’m a nervous wreck.”
Werth has competed on baseball’s biggest stage, but he says there is no feeling quite like having a horse on the track. In fact, Werth thinks horse racing might be the best under-the-radar sport out there.
“It’s tough to beat, man, it’s an adrenaline rush like never before,” Werth said. “I compare it really to winning championships, to winning divisions, to winning postseason games. It is the most underrated sport on the planet, bar none.”
If Dornoch follows in its co-owner’s footsteps, it may very well wind up in the winner’s circle at the Kentucky Derby. In the 2008 World Series, as a member of the Philadelphia Phillies, Werth hit .444 with one home run and three RBI en route to a championship.
Dornoch will try to take home the first leg of the Triple Crown in Louisville on Saturday night. Post time for the Kentucky Derby is slated for 6:57 p.m. ET.
