Ex-Dodger Werth stakes out different kind of turf

His passion for horse racing led to forming a syndicate with dreams of a Triple Crown run.

- BY JOHN CHERWA

JAYSON WERTH, center, lifts the trophy after his 3-year-old colt, Dornoch, won the Belmont Stakes last year despite being sent off by the public bettors at 18-1.

(JULIA NIKHINSON Associated Press)

Former major league baseball player Jayson Werth clearly was thinking about his current place in the sports landscape last week when he called a reporter to talk about the sport he loves. The conversation opened with Shohei Ohtani's mind-bending Game 4 in the National League Championship Series.

"There are good games and great games and then there is what he did, absolutely incredible. We'll never see something like that again," Werth said.

Given that the Dodgers and Toronto Blue Jays, both teams he played for, were about ready to start the World Series, you would have thought that it was in the front, center and back of his mind. But, no, he has a new favorite sport.

His love of baseball has been supplanted by the Sport of Kings.

"Wait, I've got to go bid on a horse, I'll be back in two minutes," Werth said from a yearling sale at Keeneland, Ky.

After a couple minutes he came back, apologetic at abruptly leaving the conversation.

"We got him, he's a Good Magic colt," Werth said. "Good breeding on both sides [the colt and mare], $110,000. He'll go in the fund for Icon."

Icon Racing is the name of the new horse racing syndicate that Werth has formed. It has put together 25 to 30 investors willing to put up $100,000 to take a chance on young horses with the dream of playing on the biggest stage the Triple Crown. It's a partnership where, currently, the investors don't have to pay any more money for things such as training or veterinary bills. Other founding members of Icon include media/tech exec Ian Ritchie, longtime baseball agent Jeff Berry and former MLB pitcher Shawn Kelley.

Werth thinks the experience of being a horse owner beats being a player.