Touchuponastar Four-Peats in LA Champions Day Classic
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Photo: Hodges Photography / Jan Brubaker
Touchuponastar wins the Louisiana Champions Day Classic Stakes at Fair Grounds
Touchuponastar has now gone one better in the Louisiana Champions Day Classic Stakes than his sire, Star Guitar , winning the $150,000 state-bred race for a fourth year in a row, surpassing Star Guitar's three-peat.
Favored at 1-20 odds against four rivals, Touchuponastar led at every call and lengthened his lead to score by 8 3/4 lengths with jockey Timmy Thornton essentially sitting motionless aboard his back throughout in the 1 1/8-mile dirt race. After setting comfortable fractions of :23.68, :47.60, and 1:11.56, he hit the wire with a final time of 1:49.46 on a fast track.
Sippin On Gin , Letmikefigureitout , Benoit , and Sonya Knows Better completed the order of finish.
Jeff Delhomme trains Touchuponastar ($2.10) for their family's Set-Hut stable, headed by Jeff's brother, Jake, a former NFL quarterback. The 6-year-old gelding, bought by Set-Hut for $15,000 from the Eaton Sales consignment at the 2020 Texas Thoroughbred Association Summer Yearling and Horses of Racing Age Sale, has won 19 of 26 starts and $1,670,00.
"He's definitely a horse you don't come across a lot," Thornton said.
He is 5-for-6 this year in a campaign highlighted by his defeat of Sierra Leone and others in the New Orleans Classic Stakes (G2) in March.
"This is an awesome horse. I think those need to be showcased because this is a great game that not enough people know about," Jake Delhomme said.
Coteau Grove Farms bred Touchuponastar in Louisiana out of the Lion Heart mare Touch Magic . Star Guitar, the third-leading sire in Louisiana in 2025, will stand next year at Clear Creek Stud for $7,500.
The Classic was the richest of seven Louisiana-bred stakes races on Louisiana Champions Day. In other action:
- Rising Inflation improved to 5-for-6 in state-bred company by romping in the Louisiana Champions Day Ladies Turf Stakes under Isaac Castillo. Jonathan Wong trains the 4-year-old daughter of Mitole for owners Rose Mark, Slam Dunk Racing, and Dennis Bailey.
- Secret Faith , fanning out wide into the stretch, outkicked Blue Fire to capture the Louisiana Champions Day Ladies Sprint Stakes under C.J. McMahon. The victory for Secret Faith, a 3-year-old Aurelius Maximus filly, was her third in a row. She paid $2.60 to win. Jayde Gelner trains her for Norman Stables.
- Little Miss Curlin ($3.60) improved to 3-for-3 in scoring a decisive victory over Thrill Seeker in the Louisiana Champions Day Lassie Stakes under Jareth Loveberry. Pat Devereux Jr. trains the homebred 2-year-old Charlatan filly for owner Coteau Grove Farms. Her 6-furlong time of 1:10.33 was quicker than the 1:10.60 winning time in the Louisiana Champions Day Juvenile Stakes.
- The Bret Calhoun-trained Our Moneyman ($8.40) rallied from last to catch Scar Ship and Creole Chrome in the Juvenile. Axel Concepcion rode the Mr. Money colt for owner/breeder Chester Thomas of Allied Racing Stable.
- Roger Smith's Allnight Moonlight ($5) closed to take the Louisiana Champions Day Turf Stakes under Jose Ortiz. The Samuel Breaux trainee, a 5-year-old Ransom the Moon gelding, outfinished Pegaso and Cajun Mitole .
- Geaux Sugar closed out the stakes action with a front-running victory in the Louisiana Champions Day Sprint Stakes with 6 furlongs in 1:09.94. Mitchell Murrill piloted the $6 winner, a 5-year-old Half Ours gelding for trainer Keith Bourgeois.