Kentucky Derby notes: Jayson Werth’s horse is in. Bob Baffert’s is out.
The former Phillie is among the owners of Dornoch. Meanwhile the Churchill Downs ban for the accomplished trainer Baffert goes on.
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Biggest horse race of the year and Bob Baffert won’t be there again. But Jayson Werth will.
The former Phillies All-Star outfielder, who hit .444 in the 2008 World Series, got into the horse racing game after a round of golf a few years ago and has been hooked ever since. Guy made $136 million in salary in his career, according to Baseball-reference.com, so such hobbies come easy that way.
Werth has always followed the Kentucky Derby, which is Saturday in Louisville, Ky. This year, he’ll be an active participant as a 10% owner of the horse in the first post position, Dornoch.
» READ MORE: Former Phillies star Jayson Werth fell in love with horse racing. Now he owns a Kentucky Derby entrant.
“I played baseball for my whole life, and then you stop playing baseball and you don’t have much to get excited about,” he told Inquirer sports writer Matt Breen in March.
Dornoch has raced only twice as a 3-year-old. He won the Fountain of Youth Stakes in March but ran a career-worst fourth at the Blue Grass Stakes on April 6.
“You start running horses and pretty soon you’re celebrating like you won the division over a $70,000 purse race in the middle of nowhere Kentucky,” Werth continued. “It’s crazy what this sport does to you. It’s so much fun.”
Where’s Bob Baffert?
Arkansas Derby winner Muth is not in the field because his trainer, Bob Baffert, is still not welcome at Churchill Downs. Baffert originally incurred a two-year suspension when 2021 Derby winner Medina Spirit tested positive in a post-race test for the prohibited substance betamethasone. Churchill Downs extended it another year essentially for insubordination after Baffert sued the track’s parent company, CDI.
Muth beat Just Steel and Mystik Dan to win the Arkansas Derby on March 30, after winning the San Vicente Stakes in January. Muth finished a distant second to Derby favorite Fierceness in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile at the end of last season, so it would have been nice to see a rematch.
Baffert has six Kentucky Derby wins, tying Ben Jones for most all time.
“A trainer who is unwilling to accept responsibility for multiple drug test failures in our highest-profile races cannot be trusted to avoid future misconduct,” the track said tersely in a statement last summer when it tacked on the extra year.
“Mr. Baffert will remain suspended from entering horses at all racetracks owned by CDI through 2024. After such time, we will re-evaluate his status.”
Muth is expected to run in the Preakness Stakes on May 18.
Around the track
West Saratoga, 50-1 in the morning-line odds, was bought for just $11,000 at a yearling sale. He is guided by the charismatic Larry Demeritte, the first native of the Bahamas to train a Kentucky Derby horse and a guy who described himself as having champagne tastes but a beer budget. Demeritte is a cancer survivor and the first Black trainer at the Derby in 35 years.
Todd Pletcher and D. Wayne Lukas are 1-2 all-time in starts among Derby trainers. Pletcher has just two wins and two seconds among the 64 horses he has entered in the Derby but is saddling 5-2 favorite Fierceness (No. 17) on Saturday. Lukas has four wins and one second in 49 starts. His 50th entrant is 20-1 Just Steel (No. 6).
The No. 5 post, with 10 wins in 94 starts, has the most victories since the inception of the starting gate in 1930. Nos. 8 and 10 are second, with nine each. This year, Catalytic is the No. 5, with Just a Touch and T O Password in No. 8 and No. 10, respectively.
This year’s purse skyrocketed from $3 million to $5 million. The winner gets $3.1 million (up from $1.86 million), second place is worth $1 million (up from $600,000), third place gets $500,000 ($300,000), fourth place will get $250,000 ($150,000), and fifth place will earn $150,000 ($90,000).
T O Password’s name is derived from owner Tomoya Ozasa. He has nothing to do with Terrell Owens.
Clark Brewster, part owner of 12-horse Track Phantom, is a lawyer whose client list includes Stormy Daniels.
This is the 40th anniversary of Bill Mott’s first start at the Derby — when Ronald Reagan was president, Pelle Lindbergh was the Flyers’ second-string goalie, and Mott’s horse Taylor’s Special finished a distant 13th to Swale. Resilience, the No. 19 horse who won the Wood Memorial, is Mott’s 13th Derby starter. He won here in 2019 with Country House.
Milestone wins
This year marks the 150th running of the Kentucky Derby. Here are some notable winners.
1st: Aristides, 1875: Race was 1½ miles.
10th: Buchanan, 1884: First Derby win for Isaac Burns Murphy, Hall of Fame Black jockey.
22nd : Ben Brush, 1896: Race shortened to 1¼ miles.
25th: Manuel, 1899: His half-mile split of 51.25 seconds is the slowest of any Derby winner ever.
40th: Donerail, 1914: Longest shot to win (91-1).
45th: Sir Barton, 1919: First Triple Crown winner.
50th: Black Gold, 1924: Has one of the great stories in horse racing lore.
75th: Ponder, 1949: Son of Pensive (1944), father of Neddles (1956), also Derby winners.
99th: Secretariat, 1973: The G.O.A.T. — and it’s not even close
100th: Cannonade, 1974: Field was 23 deep, largest ever.
125th: Charismatic, 1999: Went off at 31-1.
130th: Smarty Jones, 2004: Local legend. Came within a length of winning the Triple Crown.
148th: Rich Strike, 2022: Second-longest shot to win (81-1)
Birthday book
Birth dates in 2021 for the horses running in the Derby. All thoroughbreds born in the Northern Hemisphere turn a year older on Jan. 1, regardless of actual dates of birth. Each horse’s program number is in parentheses.
January. 24: Stronghold (18).
February. 16: Grand Mo the First (16); 17: Track Phantom (12); 22: Domestic Product (15); 24: Forever Young (11).
March. 4: Mystik Dan (3); 8: Catching Freedom (4); 9: Just Steel (6); 19: West Saratoga (13); 21: Catalytic (5); 24: Resilience (19); 25: Endlessly (14); 28: Fierceness (17); 31: Sierra Leone (2).
April. 19: Society Man (20); 22: Dornoch (1).
May. 4: Honor Marie (7); 5: Just a Touch (8): 17: Epic Ride (21); 20: T O Password (10).
Run for the Derby standings
Horses accumulated points based on performance in Derby prep races. Last year’s winner at Churchill Downs — Mage — was 15th before the race, with just 50 points. He won as a 15-1 long shot.
1. Sierra Leone (2): 155 points, morning line odds: 3-1
2. Fierceness (17): 136 points, odds: 5-2
3 (tie). Catching Freedom (4): 125 points, odds: 8-1
3 (tie). Stronghold (18): 125 points, odds: 20-1
5. Resilience (19): 110 points, odds: 20-1
6 (tie). Forever Young (11): 100 points, odds: 10-1
6 (tie). Endlessly (14): 100 points, odds: 30-1
8 (tie). Dornoch (1): 75 points, odds: 20-1
8 (tie). Just a Touch (8): 75 points, odds: 10-1
10. Track Phantom (12): 70 points, odds: 20-1
11. West Saratoga (13): 67 points, odds: 50-1
12 (tie). Just Steel (6): 65 points, odds: 20-1
12 (tie). Honor Marie (7): 65 points, odds: 20-1
14. Domestic Product (15): 60 points, odds: 30-1
15 (tie). Catalytic (5): 50 points, odds: 30-1
15 (tie). Society Man (20): 50 points, odds: 50-1
17. Mystik Dan (3): 46 points, odds: 20-1
18 (tie). Grand Mo the First (16): 80 points, odds: 50-1
18 (tie). Encino: scratched.
20. T O Password (10): N/A points, odds: 30-1 (qualified via Japan Road)
21. Epic Ride (21): 35 points, odds: 50-1
And finally
“I’m going to be pretty joyful, pretty happy, because I get to walk [on to the track] with some special people in my life. ... I have some family coming up from the Bahamas who have never been to Kentucky at all, or have never been to a horse race. ... We’ll all be wearing something Bahamian.”
— Larry Demeritte, a native of the Bahamas, to the Lexington Herald
Sources: Inquirer research, Equibase.com