Jayson Werth's playing days in Major League Baseball might be over, but he may still have the ability to impact gameplay on the field.
The former outfielder was invited to be a spring-training guest coach March 14-15 for the Washington Nationals, a team for which he played the last seven seasons of a 15-year career. Manager Dave Martinez asked Werth to speak to the young team.
"I was like, what are you thinking?" Werth recalled. "He said whatever you want man, the floor is yours."
The story that came to Werth's mind was one of inspiration, to take any chance before you,as it could be your last. A story that combined his two sporting passions: baseball and horse racing.
Werth's story began in the office of Philadelphia Phillies general manager Pat Gillick. Gillick had been the general manager of the Baltimore Orioles when they drafted Werth out of high school in 1997 and signed Werth to the Phillies for the 2007 season after he missed the entire 2006 season with injuries.
When two key starters for the Phillies got injured on the date of the trade deadline, July 31, it was time for Werth, who was still fighting his own injuries and struggling at the plate, to step up.
"He looked at me and said, 'This is your last chance in professional baseball,'" Werth said. "It was tough to hear. It hurt a little bit, it pissed me off."
Two days later when Werth next stepped into the batter's box, he notched three hits and drove in four runs as the Phillies beat the Chicago Cubs 10-6. He then hit a remarkable .414 batting average in the month of August and helped the Phillies overtake the New York Mets in the division standings to make the playoffs.
The following year, Werth played a key role in bringing Philadelphia its first World Series title since 1980, hitting .444 in the fall classic.
"It was my one shot and I made the most of it," Werth said. "That was my message to these kids. You don't get many opportunities in this game and this is this team's only chance, this is this team's last chance. You're a lot like me."
The story then shifted from the dirt diamond to the dirt oval and a talented 3-year-old Thoroughbred in which Werth owned 10%, Dornoch .
Like Werth before he met with Gillick, Dornoch had been down on his luck. An early favorite for the 2024 Kentucky Derby (G1), he finished fourth in his final prep race and then finished 10th in the Derby itself. His next start would come in the final jewel of racing's Triple Crown, the Belmont Stakes (G1) at Saratoga Race Course, as one of the field's longest shots.
"He was overlooked, nobody believed in him. But I did," Werth told the Nationals players. "I went over to the barn and talked to him. He's nuts, he's mean, he'll bite if you get to close to him. If you give him a peppermint, you got 30 seconds while he's eating it to pet him a little bit. I gave him a peppermint and I grabbed him by his halter, looked him in his eyes and said 'Come on big puppy, this is it, this is your last chance in horse racing, your last chance to be somebody and be a sire.' I bang him on the nose and say come on let's go!"
Werth showed the Nationals players a behind-the-scenes video of his Belmont experience produced by America's Best Racing to help drill home the excitement of Dornoch triumphantly seizing his "last chance."
"Most of these kids don't know what horse racing is about," Werth said. "They know there are races but they don't know what goes into it. They see the behind-the-scenes stuff, then they see the race and me jumping around like a crazy person. They could feel the emotion, the excitement, and the electricity that horse racing brings.
"We got done with the video and I was like, 'This is it guys, this is your big chance and for some of you it will be your last chance. This team, it's your only chance."
To seal the deal, Werth pulled out a bag of peppermints and handed them out to the fired-up players.
"This is your bang on the nose, let's go!" Werth told them.
Whether the peppermints and the pep talk will turn the Nationals into World Series champions as it turned Dornoch into a classic winner is yet to be seen, but the message of making the most of your opportunity is still loud and clear in Werth's mind as he now has a second chance at the Kentucky Derby with Flying Mohawk.
Out of Left Field
Unlike Dornoch, who inherited high expectations of success after his full brother, Mage , won the 2023 Kentucky Derby, Flying Mohawk's presence on the Derby trail has come out of left field. He recently emerged as the top talent in Werth's handful of sophomores this season—on the turf.
A son of 2014 Breeders' Cup Mile (G1T) winner Karakontie out of a Twirling Candy mare, Flying Mohawk was a $72,000 purchase by Legion Bloodstock at the 2023 Keeneland September Yearling Sale. The colt, who Werth co-owns with Berry Family Racing and Kaleta Racing, has started five times on grass, including impressive victories in each of his last two starts. With an eye on the $1 million American Turf Stakes (G1T) at Churchill Downs on Derby day May 3, trainer Whit Beckman hatched a race plan that could double their choices on the first Saturday in May.
Flying Mohawk races March 22 in the Jeff Ruby Steaks (G3) at Turfway Park, straying from his familiar turf to test the Tapeta over 1 1/8 miles. A top-two finish would earn him enough points to qualify for the Derby on dirt. Even though the American Turf is still in play, when you have a top 3-year-old talent that qualifies for the Derby, can you pass up the chance? You never know when it might be your last.
"If he runs first or second here in the Ruby, I don't know how we don't take a shot at the Derby with him," Werth said. "How many opportunities do you get? How many chances do you get in life to do something like this? Here we are heading to Cincinnati and running in the Jeff Ruby while Derby dreaming again—it's crazy."
"If you just won a Derby prep, you can't not think about it," Beckman said. "For these owners, you kind of throw the decision at them. It's everybody's dream. For me, we're going to do what's right for the horse and we can only get there once we cleared the next hurdle. Hopefully, we can get (the Jeff Ruby) and have this tough decision to make."
For a professional competitor like Werth, the lure of being involved with one of the top sporting events in the world may be too big an opportunity to pass up. No stranger to the big stage given his World Series victory that led to a parade in Philadelphia attended by millions, Werth said the walk over he took last year with Dornoch from the barns to the paddock was an experience unlike any other.
"Something about Churchill Downs, the mystique, the whole experience—it's truly this mystical, magical experience," Werth said. "It is one of the most iconic things you can do in all of sports—the most prestigious thing I think you do in sports—is have a horse that runs in the Kentucky Derby."
Although Flying Mohawk's path has greatly differed from Dornoch's, Werth sees the similarities that will lead to success.
"He's got that 'it' factor," Werth said. "When you talk about athletes, in my experience, the best ones have this air about them. They have this personality—Dornoch had that. Mohawk, he's got that personality that he's the special guy, the special dude. He's cool. He's got this presence about him, this way about him. Nothing phases him."
Club SI Ambassador
Regardless of Saturday's result, Werth himself will be at Churchill Downs May 3 as a celebrity host at the track's Club SI, a luxury dining room directly behind the paddock that opened in 2024. At the time he agreed, Werth didn't have a horse on the Derby trail. What Werth's day would look like should he be a Kentucky Derby—or an American Turf—owner is still yet to be determined.
"The thing about professional athletes, they're good at getting stuff thrown at them and situations you don't see coming sometimes," Werth said. "Rolling with the punches is all part of it. That might be what we have to do."
Werth said it is an honor to have the role of ambassador at Club SI as he has begun devoting his "new career" to the promotion of horse racing. He has been active at recent yearling and 2-year-old sales purchasing horses for his new syndicate, Icon Racing, which aims to bring several other iconic faces to the industry.
Werth Looking to Keep Racing Iconic With New Venture
"Dornoch really put a different spin on life for me after baseball," Werth said. "He brought us into this great game, giving us this experience that we want to build on and share with other people."
"He's really getting himself dug in," Beckman said. "I think the right kind of spokesman for new people coming in. I think he's a new face for people looking at it and thinking it's inaccessible—he's showing it's all up for grabs."
One way Werth would achieve that goal and help bring new eyes to the sport would be through winning the Kentucky Derby.
"Winning the Kentucky Derby, I can't even fathom what that would mean to us, to our families, to the horse, to our partnership, to Icon Racing, to the sport of horse racing," Werth said. "To win that race, it's unfathomable."
Before Werth can really let the Derby dream run wild, there is still one more mission: Flying Mohawk performing at his best in the Jeff Ruby.
"It's like any big game, you can't look past what's right in front of your face," Werth said. "I was hyperventilating going into the gates at the Kentucky Derby last year and I imagine I will probably be doing the same Saturday."
One thing that is a near-certainty about Flying Mohawk's day Saturday is that he will receive the most fired-up pep talk of any of the Jeff Ruby competitors.
And, probably, a peppermint.
