From baseball star to billionaire, these celebrities own 2025 Kentucky Derby horses

The stars who will grace the Derby Red Carpet Saturday aren’t the only celebrities who will be affiliated with this year’s event — two of this year’s racehorse owners are also particularly notable.

The 151st Kentucky Derby will take place Saturday, and 19 thoroughbreds are set to take the track, including newcomers to Churchill Downs, as well as some who have titled at the venue previously.

Half of this year’s Derby horses belong to more than one person, and there are 48 owners between the 19 horses. Among the owners are wealthy business executives, lawyers and breeding and racing professionals, as well as the co-founder of a popular coffee chain and a former Major League Baseball star.

Here’s a quick rundown of which 2025 Kentucky Derby horses are owned by celebrities.

Flying Mohawk

Flying Mohawk, a dark bay or brown colt, is owned by Two Eight Racing, Berry Family Racing LLC and Kaleta Racing.

Two Eight Racing is owned by Jayson Werth, a former MLB player who represented the Toronto Blue Jays, Los Angeles Dodgers, Philadelphia Phillies and Washington Nationals. Werth announced his retirement in 2018.

This is Werth’s second time having a horse in the race. He owned a 10% stake in Dornoch, who finished 10th in the 150th Kentucky Derby last year. The colt has since retired.

In 2016, Werth made Forbes’ list of “The World’s Highest-Paid Athletes,” coming in at 94th. He signed a $126 million deal with the Washington Nationals in 2010, and Forbes reported his contract was worth $21 million each season between 2015 and 2017.

Owen Almighty

Owen Almighty, a bay colt, is owned by Flying Dutchmen Breeding and Racing, which is owned by Travis Boersma. Boersma is co-founder and executive chairman of popular chain Dutch Bros Coffee.

Boersma’s real time net worth as of Tuesday afternoon was $3.8 billion, according to Forbes. The finance and business publication reports Boersma is the 902nd richest person in the world.

Owen Almighty’s jockey, Javier Castellano, won the derby in 2023 with Mage.

Another competitor in this year’s derby, Render Judgment, is co-owned by Dream Walkin’ Farms, a breeding and racing program founded by late country music songwriter, singer and star Toby Keith.

Do you have a question about the Kentucky Derby for our service journalism team? We’d like to hear from you. Email ask@herald-leader.com or fill out our Know Your Kentucky form.

This story was originally published May 1, 2025 at 4:45 AM with the headline "From baseball star to billionaire, these celebrities own 2025 Kentucky Derby horses."

Meredith Howard

Belleville News-Democrat

Meredith Howard is a service journalist with the Belleville News-Democrat. She is a Baylor University graduate and has previously freelanced with the Illinois Times and the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting. Support my work with a digital subscription