Jayson Werth (6-24-24)

Jason talks about his Belmont Stakes Winning horse, Dornoch and reflects on his time with the Dodgers. 

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Well, we're joined right now bya World Series champion. And I knew
him way before that. He wasone of those special guys that you connect
with in a clubhouse, and wecertainly did in two thousand and four,
in two thousand and five when hewas playing for the Dodgers before he went
on to an unbelievable Major League careerto close out his fifteen seasons. And

(00:23):
now he's part owner of the BelmontStakes winner door Knock. That is the
one and only Jason Worth. Jason. Great to have you on the show.
Great to reconnect with you. Yeah, David trazy, it's been this
long twenty years since those days.My Dodger days were good. Good to

(00:44):
talk to you and get back connectedfor a totally different reason. Yeah,
no doubt. You know, whenwe used to talk, we never really
talked about horse racing, but Iknow the Dodgers beat writer Ken Gernick was
a big horse racing guy. Didyou you have it in your blood back
then? Uh? No? Andas I mentioned, running into paul A

(01:04):
Duca at Saratoga on Belmont weekend andand you know, hugging it out with
my old Dodger teammate and and talkingabout horses. Was was was you know,
surreal? Also so it's uh,it was. It's been a crazy
couple three years here in horse racing. I never really had much interest or

(01:26):
or you know, really anything todo with it other than watching the Triple
Crown races and following it from afar. But yeah, here we are here,
we are sitting here today watching watchingraces at Churchill Downs this afternoon and
uh, you know, sitting onyou know, arguably the best three year
old in the world, and andand Belmont Camps. What can you tell

(01:47):
us about door Knock? What makesthis horse so special? To be an
underdog of sorts at the Belmont Stakes? Yeah, which is crazy. You
wouldn't have you wouldn't have thought,uh he was an underdog if you saw
my my betting ticket. We wewe believed in him. Uh. We
thought he We thought he was thefavorite in the race. Honestly, we

(02:10):
He had a he had a roughtrip in the Derby ran ran big.
His gallop out was great. Uh. The horse the race before that was
the Bluegrass where he had a toughtrip. Uh, similar to what the
what the Kentucky Derby trip was.He just didn't have anywhere to go and
came up empty on the straightaway.But uh, you know, maybe he

(02:32):
wasn't he was offul coming off alittle bit of a you know, layoff,
I guess, but going into theBell Mountain we felt really good about
him. He Uh, it's funny. I was telling on MLB Network the
other day. Mark dross the interviewedme. He asked me, what what
what he's like? And I said, and I think it's true. He's

(02:52):
a he's kind of like his uh, his his dad. He's a he's
a big, bad dude with abig with a bad attitude. And uh,
he shows up on game day,so he was he's uh, he's
cool to be around. He's toughto train, which you know I probably
wasn't the most coachable guy myself.So we got a lot in common.

(03:12):
And and you know, he's,uh, he's a gamer and he's a
he's a big horse. Uh,he's he's uh, he's cool, he's
funny. If you get we gosee him see him a lot. We
give him peppermints, uh, andlike he'll start like he'll start sucking on
his tongue and like it's it's it'sit's hysterical. But then in that like
few uh thirty seconds of him andenjoying his peppermint, you kind of you

(03:36):
can get in there and uh andlove on him and and pat him.
Will'll let you close. But assoon as that's over, he wants another
peppermint, and then he turns backinto a jerk. So he's uh,
he's a he's an interesting guy.Do you remember the first time you ever
got introduced to door knock and whenyou went in with ten percent of ownership
on door knock? Yeah? SoI was at the sale uh and Keeenland

(03:59):
a couple of steps ago, whereit's kind of like when you buy buy
these horses and you don't know whatthey are. I mean the guys at
bottom that that that I ran into. I ran into these guys at the
bar uh at Keenland after the sales, and and that's how I got in,
just kind of sitting there chopping itup with these guys I just met,
and they wanted to get me in, and you know, they said,

(04:20):
oh, you know, I wasbuying mostly phillies, and they said,
oh, you get you a cold, get you, you know,
get you a horse, get youon the Derby trail looking back. I
mean if if when I tell peoplethat in horse racing, they're like,
you know, those guys are arefull of it, you know, because
you never no one knows what theyhave when they're one. But those guys
so good about it, and sodid I. And it's been it's been

(04:43):
a just an incredible journey from fromthen to now the Derby. Running in
the Derby was was a life alteringweekend, once in a lifetime experience for
me and the family. And andyou know, you ran tense, which
was disappointing, but at the sametime so cool that it was just you

(05:03):
know, you're just happy to bea part of it. So going into
the Belmont, you know, wefelt like he could he could win the
race. It wasn't a you know, it wasn't a huge field like like
the Derby, where you know,I think if he got a better trip
of the Derby, he would havebeen you would have been right there as
well. But yeah, it's justit's just wild. I've I've gotten into
it. It's become a passion andit's a great sport. It's also a

(05:27):
great sport for for retired athletes,for guys like me that you know,
competed at the highest level, uh, basically every day, and then you
know, there's no real outlet forthose uh for that, you know,
for those emotions for you know,for the the competition. You know,
you can't really recreate the joys ofwinning and losing and uh, you know,

(05:49):
the gut wrenches of of you know, big time you know events and
races and and just it's been anunbelievable outlet for me to uh to kind
of feel those emotions again. Idon't know if you saw the video that
America's Best Racing, Uh, there'sa like a four minute clip that kind
of takes you through the day andand uh then shows us celebrating, uh

(06:12):
after the one that Belmont. Andit's so great to be able to celebrate
with you know, when you're whenyou're playing, it's awesome to hear your
teammates and and you win and andyou know you got you have these you
know, you know, bonds youcreate with your teammates when you win you
can never break. And then youyou look up in the stands and you
waved your family, you know,and they're they're they're there with you,
but not really. In horse racing, you know, you win, you

(06:36):
win together, you lose together,you cry together. You know, it's
it's it's a It's an amazing sporton so many levels, and I'm just
happy to be a part of itand looking to looking to share it and
spread the spread the good, thegood name of horse racing. As we
go, Jason Worth is our guest. You can hear the passion of horse

(06:57):
racing in his voice. And reallythat's what I was going to ask you.
You answered, whether or not ithelps you with the competitive outlet,
but also with winning the Belmont Stakescompared to winning the World Series in Oh
wait, maybe seeing door knock godown the stretch, does it feel like
two outs in the ninth inning?Is there any parallels there? Definitely is.

(07:19):
I mean, you know, forpeople that aren't familiar with the sport
or or just know the sport fromfrom the betting side, when you bet
on a horse, you know,from on the ownership side, it's totally
different. I mean, it's sucha different experience. This horse becomes part
of your life. You know,you worry about it, you wake up
in the morning, you check onit. You know, there's there's videos,

(07:40):
there's there's reports, it becomes likeyou know, you go to see
it in the stables, it becomeslike a family pet. I mean,
this guy's he's got nicknames. Youknow, we bring the presents. It's
like there's a whole lot of awhole different experience to owning these horses than
than just betting on them or goingto the track someday in Washington. So
it creates, you know, thewill creates a bond similar to when you're

(08:03):
when you're playing then and when hegoes and runs and you know, a
race like a Triple Crown race,you know, like I mean, this
is legendary stuff. So when youwin, you feel the same emotions I
winning at the highest level, Imean I would I would say I would
put it right up there. Ifif you know, winning the World Series
in Philadelphia and then and then experiencingthe parade in Philadelphia, which was which

(08:28):
was incredible, I would say,you know, one in one a winning
the Belmont would be would be youknow, a close second. So it
was a it's remarkable to experience it, and like I said, to do
it with my family and my friendstogether, it just it makes for an
incredible experience. I can't I can't. I can't even begin to tell you
how special it is. That isso awesome. Jason Wirth is our guest.

(08:52):
Before I let you go, youmentioned seeing Paul Aduca at the Belmont
Stakes and him embracing you. Thatwas such a tight knit group in two
thousand and four with the Dodgers.Obviously, you guys did not go all
the way, but of all theteams that you were part of, where
do where does two thousand and fourranked as far as the bonds you had

(09:15):
with those teammates. Yeah, yeah, I mean, awesome team. You
know, arguably that was Yeah,that was my rookie, rookie year.
So it was an unbelievable start toyou know, a pretty storybook career with
with the way, you know,the way it went, with you know,
the the injuries experienced the following yearand the troubles that we had to

(09:39):
you know, get it diagnosed andand get it fixed, and then ultimately,
you know, getting released by theteam that you know, you know,
gave me the opportunity. It was. It's the four team was was
so close. You know, wewe ran into a juggernaut with Saint Louis
that year. They were they werehot, and you know we were we

(10:03):
were kind of a little short,but it was it was a great experience.
The awesome year we had, youknow, running down the Giants down
the stretch. You know, Finn'shitting that big walk off grand Slam at
Dodger Stadium. I had that.I had that long at bat to tie
the game and then Finn's coming upand hitting the Grand Slam. I mean
that that was that was That wasa great Dodger moments. And to do

(10:26):
it at Dodger Stadium at packed houseas a rookie, he was. It
was incredible. You know, obviouslyhad some some other big games there for
other teams and and big moments,but always loved, always loved Dodger Stadium,
and you know playing in l Awas was, you know, definitely
special in being a Dodgers. Youknow, it's like it's it's uh,

(10:48):
it's one of the tough sports franchisesin all sports. So it was.
I was honored to be a Dodgerand then to experience all that and you
know, had a great career andnow here we are running and running triple
ground races and winning the Belmonts.It's you know, never it never ends
right. You always had a visioneven when you were playing. You had

(11:11):
the vision of winning a World SeriesChampionship, a vision of being one of
those premiere free agents, which youaccomplished as well. And I'm sure you
had this vision of at some pointin time finding this outlet and Door Knock
winning the Belmont Stake. So I'mreally happy for you, Jason, and
awesome to hear from you again.Yeah, thanks David Trading. Dormic was

(11:35):
the first cult I bought, somy first chance I had. Uh I
would I kind of say that hefound me. I don't know if I
found him, but it's it's beena crazy run. We still got we
still got the travers looking for thetravers, and then hopefully we'll be in
We'll be in San Diego, downthere del Mar for the Breeders Cup in
November, so I hope to seeyou out there when I get on the

(11:56):
West coast. Hey, if Doorand Jason Worth are at del Mar for
the Breeders' Cup, I will bethere, So let's book it. Not
hope I will see you out therein November, Let's do it. Thanks
for the time, and good tohear your voice, and good to speak
with you again,