Delgado runs 2 juveniles Monday, including 7-figure Regent's Park

Jorge Delgado says he will be emotionally conflicted between excitement and anxiety when he sends out a pair of colts on Monday for the first 2-year-old race of the year at Monmouth Park.

The excitement stems from both Regent’s Park and Tipsy Mojo hinting at special ability already.

Click here for Monmouth Park entries and results.

The anxiety will be largely because of Regent’s Park, who cost $1.4 million during the Fasig-Tipton New York Saratoga select yearling sale last August. Of the 19 2-year-olds that Delgado has bedded down at the Jersey Shore track this summer, Regent’s Park is the most expensive one he has.

“They’re both ready,” said Delgado, Monmouth Park’s leading trainer a year ago. “They both have a really good foundation. They’ve been pretty much the same in the mornings. They’ve been working together for a while now.

“I’ve been waiting for what seems like a long time for some of these 2-year-olds. So I’m very excited and trying not to get too anxious. We have other horses racing over the weekend so that will keep my mind on other things. But I’m very excited.”

Regent’s Park, a Kentucky-bred son of Bolt d’Oro out of the Speightstown mare Spark, has had three official works with stablemate Tipsy Mojo at Monmouth Park. The last was a bullet from the gate on May 16, when he went 36.3 seconds for three furlongs. Tipsy Mojo had the third best work at the distance that same day.

Paco Lopez is listed to ride Regent’s Park, who drew he rail for owner Amo Racing USA, the nom-de-course of British businessman Kia Joorabchian, in the 4 1/2-furlong maiden special weight race.

“Regent’s Park has been working up to this breeze by breeze,” said Delgado. “His last breeze was a really good one. Every time he breezes he tightens up a little bit more. He’s very forward from the gate. I don’t know if he will be the fastest out of there but he is very professional. He might be the second or third fastest out of the gate but when Paco calls for him to go he’ll be there.”

To ease some of his anxiety with a horse as expensive as Regent’s Park, Delgado will try to view him as just another one of his starters over the three-day racing weekend.

“I try not to look at the sales price,” he said. “My job is to train. When you start thing about other things and get distracted by them that’s when you can make mistakes and you start being too cautious.”

Tipsy Mojo, a Lea Farm homebred son of Mind Control, has flashed plenty of potential as well. It has just been in the looming shadow of the pricey Regent’s Park.

“The two of them have worked together quite a bit,” said Delgado, a native of Maracaibo, Venezuela, who has been based at Monmouth Park since 2022. “Regent’s Park has been a little better in the breezes. But they have stayed together. He is not far off (Regent’s Park) in the mornings. But the only way you know for sure is when they get to the races.”

Delgado said he will “have one or two 2-year-olds ready to go every time more 2-year-old races are written.”

For now, his focus is on Regent’s Park and Tipsy Mojo on Monday – though he also has ambitious plans for both.

“The plan is for them to break their maiden at Monmouth Park and then go to Saratoga for the graded 2-year-old stakes,” he said.