Trainer Jorge Delgado will hope to saddle his first top-level winner when he sends out the lightning-quick New York Thunder for AMO Racing USA in next Saturday's $500,000 H. Allen Jerkens Memorial (G1), a seven-furlong sprint for sophomores at Saratoga Race Course.
The 33-year-old native of Maracaibo, Venezuela, got his start stateside at Gulfstream Park working for his uncle, Gustavo Delgado, the trainer of Kentucky Derby (G1) winner Mage, a top contender in the card's feature event, the $1.25-million Travers (G1).
Delgado went out on his own in 2017 at Gulfstream and picked up his first winner with Saturado that July as the first of five victories in his initial campaign.
“When I look back, I started with a $1,500 horse and a $500 horse at Gulfstream Park. I was my own groom for over eight months just to get started and now to be one of the favorites in a Grade 1, it means a lot,” Delgado said. “You don't forget where you come from and you don't forget all the adventures and the highs and the lows, but it's all worth it when you're in this position. Whatever happens, to be in this position and to have a horse racing on Travers Day that can compete at that high of a level means a lot to me as a trainer.”
Delgado, who has won 45 of 211 starts this year for purse earnings in excess of $1.9 million, has seen an increase in all of the key stats year-over-year from number of starters to wins, purse earnings and earnings per start. He credits a hard-working, cohesive team and improved stock – currently some 58 strong – with helping him thrive.
“Thankfully, I have more quality than quantity right now. We're earning more money per start and running in bigger and better races,” Delgado said. “I've been lucky to win stake races in Gulfstream, Tampa, Delaware, Laurel, Pimlico, Saratoga, Monmouth, Woodbine, and Keeneland — pretty much every track we're going in. I think we're going under the radar, but I will let the horses speak for me.
“We have 22 people, two assistant trainers and pretty much we've been together for several years now,” he continued. “The main characters are the same and a few exercise riders have been with me for years. My assistant, Johan Aldana, has been with me since I started.”
New York Thunder is undefeated in four tries, announcing his talent with a pair of starts at Gulfstream this winter with a 6 1/2-length debut score in November over Tapeta followed by a 1 3/4-length turf score one month later.
The Nyquist colt shipped to Woodbine in April and won his stakes debut in the six-furlong Woodstock by 7 1/2-lengths over Tapeta and was then entered in the Woody Stephens (G1) on June 10 at Belmont Park but scratched due to a bruised foot.
He re-routed to the 6 1/2-furlong Amsterdam (G2) on July 28 at the Spa and made every pole a winning one under Tyler Gaffalione, rocketing through splits of :21.48 and :43.56 over the fast main track.
New York Thunder opened up by three lengths at the stretch call, putting away odds-on favorite Drew's Gold and romped to the wire a 7 1/2-length winner in a final time of 1:14.65. His six-furlong split of 1:07.77 is faster than Saratoga's six-furlong track record of 1:07.92 set by Imperial Hint in the 2019 Alfred G. Vanderbilt (G1), and the colt's geared down final time was not far off of Quality Road's track record of 1:13.74 set in the 2009 Amsterdam.
The victory marked the third graded win for Delgado and first at Saratoga in his fifth attempt – his best previous efforts here coming last year in third-place finishes with Willy Boi [G1 Alfred G. Vanderbilt Handicap] and Super Chow [G2 Saratoga Special].
“It's a feeling you will never forget. You imagine it and you dream about it, but it's only when it happens that you can acknowledge that it happened and it exists,” Delgado said. “We had such high expectations for the race and you run all the scenarios in your mind of how the race will happen but, so far, that has been the most perfect race in my career. It was everything you want in a race in the same race – beating stakes-winning horses and winning in that fashion, it doesn't happen every day.”
While New York Thunder worked multiple bullets at Monmouth Park heading into the Amsterdam, the speedy bay has provided just a pair of moderate maintenance works for the Allen Jerkens, including a half-mile effort in :52 flat Saturday.
“He's doing good,” Delgado said. “He just ran 23 days ago and he came back to breeze after 15 days from the race, so I'm just using that race itself like a breeze for the race. I don't think he needs way more than that. It's just about keeping him healthy. He knows what he's doing, by now.”
New York Thunder defeated a compact, but talented, field in the Amsterdam that included the multiple graded stakes-placed trio of Deer District, Drew's Gold and Gilmore as well as the graded stakes-winner Ryvit, who stumbled badly at the break and never factored.
He will face a steeper challenge Saturday as he stretches out to seven furlongs for the first time while facing a top-flight field expected to include Grade 1 winner Arabian Lion and Grade 3 winner Fort Bragg for Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert, Grade 3 winner Verifying for trainer Brad Cox and Grade 2 winner Lord Miles for trainer Saffie Joseph Jr. among others.
But Delgado said he is confident his horse is ready to take that next step.
“I like everything I see and every sign. We went over him today after the breeze and he's as good as he can be,” Delgado said. “As long as my horse gets to the race 100 percent like he's acting right now, I'm going to be happy.”
New York Thunder was purchased for $130,000 at the 2021 Keeneland September Yearling Sale, where Threave Main Stud consigned him. Bred in Kentucky by Gatewood Bell and Forgotten Land, New York Thunder is out of the Midshipman mare Start Over, who is a half-sister to graded stakes-placed Degree of Risk. His third dam, Surf Club, produced 2012 Forego (G1) winner Emcee.
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