Former MLB player Jayson Werth’s love of baseball is bringing him to the Kentucky Derby

Former professional baseball player Jayson Werth has moved on from baseball to horse racing.

>> Read more trending news

Werth has played baseball with the Toronto Blue Jays, Los Angeles Dodgers, Philadelphia Phillies and Washington Nationals over his career, according to The Associated Press. He played 63 postseason games and won a World Series with the Phillies in 2008.

He played professional baseball for about 15 years, according to The Washington Post.

“It has some fragrance of the World Series,” Werth said, according to the AP. “Things are totally different now. We’re at the barns, roads are blocked off, there’s security everywhere. It’s definitely heightened, and you get the sense, ‘This is it, this is the highest level of the sport.’”

Horse racing has become a way for Werth to fill his baseball void, the AP reported.

“The connection between racing and professional sports has always been strong, going all the way back to Babe Ruth, who loved to bet the horses,” said NBC Sports analyst Randy Moss, according to the AP. Moss is expected to work his 44th Kentucky Derby this weekend. “Especially when an athlete like Jayson Werth buys into a few horses and actually makes it into the Derby.”

Werth co-owns a horse named Dornoch who is expected to participate in the Kentucky Derby on Saturday, according to MLB. Dornoch’s brother, Mage, won the Kentucky Derby last year.

Dornoch is a 3-year-old colt, according to the Post.

“I never stressed out, I never worried about one [baseball] game as long as I lived,” Werth said Wednesday during an appearance on MLB Network. “Coming into a horse race, it’s like, I’m a nervous wreck.”

“It’s tough to beat, man, it’s an adrenaline rush like never before,” said Werth.

© 2024 Cox Media Group