SPECTACULAR GREY, FACES NEXT TEST IN SUNDAY’S COLLEEN STAKES FOR FORMER UBER DRIVER DELGADO

By Tom Luicci —-

SPECTACULAR GREY, A RECENT $625,000 PURCHASE, FACES NEXT TEST

OCEANPORT, N.J. – As recently as last year, Alexis Delgado was driving an Uber in Florida. On Sunday, he sends out a recent $625,000 purchase when Spectacular Grey takes on 10 other 2-year-old fillies in the $100,000 Colleen Stakes at Monmouth Park.

It’s a lifestyle change the 42-year-old trainer from Caracas, Venezuela, only needs one word to describe.

“Unbelievable,” he said.

Spectacular Grey, a Kentucky-bred daughter of Not This Time-Rose Grey by The Factor, dazzled in her debut at Monmouth Park on July 12 with a breathtaking middle move that ended with a 7¾-length victory against maiden special weight company.

On Tuesday, she was the sales topper at the Fasig-Tipton 2025 Digital Sale at $625,000.

Delgado wasn’t sure if new owners Epic Horses LLC would keep him on as the trainer but an immediate phone call allayed any concerns. New ownership cited his success as a trainer in the United States from 2017-21, which included a win in the Grade 2 Davona Dale in 2019 with Jeltin, as reason enough for him to continue with Spectacular Grey.

Jeltrin also finished third in the Grade 1 Acorn and the Grade 2 Mother Goose and was ninth in the Kentucky Oaks that year.

“It’s a great opportunity for me,” said Delgado. “For me to come back to training and to get a horse like this is unbelievable. The new owners called and said `we saw the success you had in 2019. We want you to continue training this filly.’ I am very grateful to them for that.”

Delgado, who has 42 career wins, stopped training from 2022-24, he said, because of economic and family reasons, working as an Uber driver during that time. A call from two owners willing to give him horses if he returned to training convinced him to try again.

He has started three horses during his comeback, winning with two of them. Overall, he oversees an eight-horse stable and says “babies are my specialty.”.

“Now my life is crazy,” he said. “Training horses is my life. It’s what I have always wanted to do.”

Spectacular Grey not only faces a competitive test on Sunday – trainer Wesley Ward has entered three in the race – but a surface change. The five-furlong Colleen is on the grass.

“The old owners (III Beauty’s Thoroughbreds) always wanted to try her on the grass but I said to them `give me one opportunity on the dirt with her,’ ” he said. “She ran an unbelievable race. She has always shown talent in the morning. She is a special filly.

“I don’t think she was 100 percent as far as her conditioning for her first race. Maybe 80 or 85 percent. But she is 100 percent now.”

Though Spectacular Grey has never even worked on the grass, Delgado said “her pedigree says she will like the grass.”

“The new owners called me and said `we like this filly for the grass.’ They want to see if she is good enough to try a race at Kentucky Downs,” he added. “We have to see how she does but I’m very excited to watch her race again.

“This is a good field she will be facing. It’s not easy. There are a lot of fast fillies in this race. But I think she is ready for it.”

The hefty sales price, Delgado insists, does not add any more pressure than what he puts on himself to begin with.

“This is very expensive filly now but I am not thinking about the price,” he said. “I just want her to show her ability again.”