Delgado Wheels Back X Y Prime in $32,000 Tampa Bay Downs Allowance

Trainer Jorge Delgado opted to wheel back X Y Prime in 11 days into Wednesday’s second-level allowance/optional $32,000 claiming feature at Tampa Bay Downs, banking on a rail draw and a leading rider to turn a quick comeback into a payoff for connections. Leading rider Samuel Marin was named to ride the 4-year-old gelding by Vekoma over the one mile and 40-yard distance.

X Y Prime’s profile paints a versatile but lightly seasoned competitor: 11 career starts on dirt, turf and synthetic, with two dirt victories and one prior win at Tampa. The gelding finished a well-beaten third in a second-level allowance at Gulfstream on Feb. 14 behind Grande and Praetor, two horses described as seemingly having graded-stakes potential; that Feb. 14 effort set up the short turnaround to Tampa Bay Downs.

Delgado framed the decision to run back quickly in pragmatic terms: "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." He added a vote of confidence in the horse’s ability to handle travel and surface change: "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 also singled out the colt’s Jan. 2 synthetic-card performance at Gulfstream as a key measure of form. "It was his biggest race, his strongest gallop-out and it was his most convincing run from beginning to end," Delgado said of X Y Prime’s Jan. 2 effort, and the trainer reported that the horse "appears to have come out of the race fresh" after the Feb. 14 outing.

Tactically, the combination of a rail draw and Marin aboard projects X Y Prime as a potential primary speed. With a short field and the one mile, 40-yard trip at Tampa, a clean break from the inside could allow X Y Prime to control the pace and make the most of his dirt wins and prior Tampa success.

Delgado’s broader trajectory gives added weight to the placement. Born April 27, 1990, in Maracaibo, Venezuela, Delgado came to south Florida in 2012, apprenticed under Juan Rodriguez and his uncle Gustavo Delgado, and began training on his own in 2017. The Tampa Bay Downs media guide lists Delgado splitting a 49-horse stable between Tampa Bay and Gulfstream, keeping about 15 in Oldsmar, while Monmouthpark coverage from September 2025 referenced a 51-horse stable during a busy summer campaign. Delgado’s 2024 totals included 71 wins and $3,726,308 in earnings, and an Oldsmar hot streak that produced seven wins from 11 starts earning him Trainer of the Month recognition.

With X Y Prime’s versatility across three surfaces, a one mile, 40-yard dash from the rail with Samuel Marin aboard, and Delgado’s recent stable momentum, the short-rest gamble at Tampa Bay Downs will test whether quick placement can convert into another payoff for owners amid the track’s "Celebrating 100 Years of racing at Tampa Bay Downs!" festivities.