Daily Racing Form National Digital Edition
Jeltrin boosts trainer’s career
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Alexis Delgado won quite a few stakes in his native Venezuela, but they were nothing to compare with Saturday’s Davona Dale victory at Gulfstream Park.
“This is definitely the peak of my career,” Delgado said early Monday with his friend, the retired Hall of Fame jockey Jose Santos, translating his Spanish. “I could not be more happy.”
Delgado trains Jeltrin, who stunned a large crowd on hand for the Fountain of Youth card into near silence by winning the Grade 2, $200,000 Davona Dale at 51-1 odds. Owned by ADR Racing Stable, the Kentucky-bred daughter of Tapizar earned 50 qualifying points and surely a berth into North America’s premier race for 3-year-old fillies, the May 3 Kentucky Oaks.
Delgado, 37, grew up on the racetrack in his home country as the son of a groom. He began training in his teens before deciding about three years ago to move to the United States, where he worked as a stablehand for Jena Antonucci on the South Florida circuit prior to passing his trainer’s test and starting his first horse at Gulfstream on Aug. 10, 2017. He won with his second starter, Surprising Twist, the very next day.
Overall, Delgado had won with 13 of 119 starters prior to giving Luis Saez a leg up for the one-mile Davona Dale. The filly had finished fourth in her last two starts, the Jan. 5 Glitter Woman and the Feb. 2 Forward Gal, and Delgado was far more optimistic than the wagering public that she would give a big effort.
“I was pretty sure she was going to run well,” he said.
Saez was aboard only because Leonel Reyes had been injured in a post-parade accident about 90 minutes beforehand. Saez said Delgado came into the jockeys’ room asking about a replacement rider for Jeltrin and Saez happened to overhear him.
“She needed a strong rider, and he had already ridden the filly once,” said Delgado, referring to a Dec. 12 allowance in which Saez finished third aboard her. “Everything worked out perfect, except I feel really bad for Reyes. He is my friend and he rides for my stable. He rode her the last two races and galloped her every day the whole week.”
Indeed, the timing was awful for Reyes, who was shaken up enough to vacate his last three mounts on the Saturday card – Jeltrin, followed by Union’s Destiny (sixth at 94-1 in the Fountain of Youth) and Golden Dragon (eighth at 97-1 in the Mac Diarmida). Reyes was sufficiently recovered by Sunday, when he fulfilled all eight of his mounts.
For much of the one-mile Davona Dale, Jeltrin raced in third behind Cookie Dough and heavily favored Jaywalk, then angled out for the stretch run and wore down Cookie Dough by a head in a prolonged drive.
Delgado, a married father of three, was overcome with emotion in the winner’s circle. “I was so happy,” he said. Delgado said Monday he would wait a few more days to see how Jeltrin does in her training before committing her to the March 30 Gulfstream Oaks, which would serve as her final prep toward the Kentucky Oaks. The filly is among those who were moved recently from Barn 23 on the south side of the Gulfstream property into nearby makeshift barns to accommodate the Fasig-Tipton sale of 2-year-olds in training on March 27 at Gulfstream. Delgado said he definitely intends to run Jeltrin in the Kentucky Oaks.
So, too, does the Oaks remain the target for Jaywalk, who was making her first start since winning the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies in November. Her trainer, John Servis, said he miscalculated the champion filly’s fitness following a fourmonth layoff.
“I thought I had her tight enough, but obviously I didn’t,” he said. “Of course I’m disappointed, but she came out of the race in good shape. We’ll live to fight another day.”
Servis said he will consider the Gulfstream Oaks or the April 6 Ashland at Keeneland as the next start for Jaywalk.
Surely the people most disappointed in Jaywalk were those who contributed most heavily to a lopsided show pool. All of the $292,866 that was bet on Jaywalk from a total show pool of $348,544 was lost when she faded to fourth at 1-5 odds. The respective $2 show mutuels on the top three finishers were $34, $22.60, and $15.40.
Zulu Alpha, winner of the Grade 2 Mac Diarmida at a surprisingly low $4.20 mutuel, likely will make his next start here in the March 30 Pan American or wait for the April 20 Elkhorn at Keeneland, said owner Michael Hui, who now has won three graded stakes with the 6-year-old gelding since claiming him for $80,000 in September.
Holy Helena, a repeat winner of the Grade 3 The Very One on Saturday, most likely will make her next start at Belmont Park, either early in the meet or in the Grade 2 New York on June 7, trainer Jimmy Jerkens said Monday.
Two $75,000 turf sprints for older horses, the Silks Run and Captiva Island, will be run here Saturday as modest high points of the coming weekend. The next major Gulfstream date is March 30, Florida Derby Day.