Delgado finds right spot to wheel back X Y Prime

Trainer Jorge Delgado may not necessarily have been looking to run X Y Prime back in 11 days off his last race, but the right condition came up at this time and X Y Prime looks like the right horse in Wednesday’s second-level allowance/optional $32,000 claiming feature at Tampa Bay Downs.

X Y Prime, a 4-year-old gelding by Vekoma, finished a well-beaten third behind Grande and Praetor, two horses seemingly with graded stakes in their future, in a second-level allowance at Gulfstream on Feb. 14. Delgado said X Y Prime appears to have come out of the race fresh and the fact he has previoulsy won at Tampa is another factor in his favor.

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“I like my chances, I like the way he’s training. He won one time in Tampa, he handled the surface, he handled the ship, so I don’t think it’s going to be an issue,” Delgado said.

Add in the fact X Y Prime has leading jockey Samuel Marin to ride and the gelding could potentially be the main speed breaking from the rail in the one mile and 40-yard race and there is a lot to like.

In 11 starts, X Y Prime has run on dirt, turf, and synthetic. Though X Y Prime has twice won on dirt, Delgado believes X Y Prime’s best race came over Gulfstream Park’s synthetic surface two starts back on Jan. 2.

“It was his biggest race, his strongest gallop-out and it was his most convincing run from beginning to end,” Delgado said.

Digital Ops, trained by Saffie Joseph Jr., also ships over from South Florida. He did a win a one-turn mile maiden race at Aqueduct on the lead in June 2024, but most recently he has been running longer distances. He was soundly beaten in an allowance at Gulfstream going 1 1/16 miles when he was sent toward the lead, a position he could not attain.

If a pace battle develops, then Twilight Dancer could be the biggest benefactor. Twilight Dancer, from the red-hot barn of Juan Arriagada, won this condition on Jan. 18 from off the pace. He is entered for the tag Wednesday and would be coming back in 10 days following a last-place finish in a conditioned allowance on Feb. 15.

Outofthedark, second to Twilight Dancer on Jan. 18, came back to finish sixth of eight in this same condition on Feb. 6.

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