The start of Saturday’s Phillies game was delayed due to rain, leaving many with a little more than an hour of free time on their hands. One thing fans did to pass the time was tune into the 150th running of the Kentucky Derby.
The race consisted of 20 horses. One of those horses was a three-year-old colt named Dornoch. The colt, who entered Saturday without great odds to win the race, is linked to the Phillies. Dornoch is co-owned by former Phillies right fielder Jayson Werth, who got into horse-owning after his playing career wrapped up in 2018.
Including Dornoch, Werth owns stakes in a number of horses. He told Matt Breen of The Philadelphia Inquirer back in March about how him co-owning Dornoch came to be, “I’m extremely lucky to be involved… I went to the right side of the bar instead of the left side of the bar. I just happened to buy the right guy a drink and started talking to him.”
Werth kept on talking and purchased a 10% stake in the horse in September of 2022. Dornoch entered the 2024 Kentucky Derby with three first-place finishes, two second-place finishes and one fourth-place finish to his name.
Unfortunately for Werth, he didn’t find himself in the winner’s circle at Churchill Downs on Saturday with Dornoch. The three-year-old finished 10th in a race that came down to a three-horse, photo finish. The winner was eventually determined to be Mystik Dan.
It doesn’t seem like this will be a discouraging outcome for Werth. It sounds like he’s found his post-playing career passion, “It’s wild. I had no idea that this is what I was getting into,” he told Breen. “I thought it would just be something fun. This is the most underrated sport there is. People who know, know. The fun factor is off the charts.”
Other Must-Read Phillies Content