The $1 million Louisiana Derby – and its implications on the Kentucky Derby six weeks hence – is the marquee event on Saturday’s 14-race Fair Grounds card. For the fans of Louisiana racing, however, it is far from the only highlight on the program. The Louisiana-bred Touchuponastar, who last year on this day upset the 2024 3-year-old champion Sierra Leone in the Grade 2 New Orleans Classic, seeks a repeat victory in the $500,000 race for older males at 1 1/8 miles. The New Orleans Classic drew six but will run with five as Accelerize is cross-entered and will run in the Essex Handicap on Saturday at Oaklawn Park. Touchuponastar, a 7-year-old gelding by Star Guitar, has won 20 of 27 starts and earned $1.76 million for the Set-Hut stable of former NFL quarterback Jake Delhomme. While he’s mostly beaten up on Louisiana-bred competition, Touchuponastar has three wins against open company, including his 2 1/2-length victory in last year’s New Orleans Classic. Though this year’s New Orleans Classic may have a short field, there are several horses with early speed. :: Big Action in the Big Easy at Fair Grounds! DRF Past Performances and Picks are available now. “We’ve always said this, and I don’t know if people believe me, he doesn’t have to be on the lead,” said Delhomme, whose brother Jeff trains Touchuponastar. “He always breaks and puts himself in position, and a lot of the races were in Louisiana-bred company. He’s naturally fast, but a couple of times he was not the lone speed.” Jake Delhomme said that jockey Tim Thornton told him Touchuponastar “enjoys looking at another horse.” Thornton, who has ridden Touchuponastar in his last 26 races, will miss this race due to an injury he suffered in a post-parade incident on a Delhomme horse a few weeks ago. Marcelino Pedroza Jr. will ride Touchuponastar for the first time. Delhomme said he remembers Pedroza rode Five Star General against Touchuponastar in the 2023 Delta Mile, a day when Five Star General outfooted him for the lead. Touchuponastar would win that race by three-quarters of a length over Miles D. Five Star General finished third. “He and ‘Touch’ went out there and ding-donged from the beginning,” Delhomme said. “So Marcelino’s familiar with him and understands him.” Not This Boy, based in Kentucky, returns to Fair Grounds where on Dec. 20 he won the Tenacious Stakes, withstanding pressure all the way from Komorebino Omoide and holding off Sir Greylind. Trainer Doug Cowans said he was planning to ship Not This Boy back to New Orleans for the Feb. 14 Mineshaft Stakes but the winter weather forced him to miss too much training time so he pointed for this spot. “The horse takes himself a minute after a race to get himself back together, the idea that he puts everything into the race,” Cowans said. “The timing of this race, he seems to be in good shape, tight and ready to roll.” Three starts back Not This Boy finished second, beaten a head by Hit Show, in the West Virginia Governor’s Stakes last August. “We were trapped on the inside, stuck on the rail,” Cowans said. “I think he could have won that race.” Corporate Power could get a nice setup as he returns to stakes company following an allowance win Feb. 19, his first race in 15 months and first for trainer Steve Asmussen. “I think he deserves this opportunity,” Asmussen said. “He hit a race the other day where there was a lot of pace, and it fit him perfectly.” While trainer Todd Pletcher will scratch Accelerize, he does plan to run Life and Times. The 5-year-old gelding by Justify won his first two starts before finishing third behind the streaking Knightsbridge in the Grade 3 Fred Hooper. All three races he’s run have been around one turn. Westwood, winner of the Grade 2 San Pasqual on Jan. 31, will make his first start for trainer Peter Eurton, who took over the training from John Shirreffs, who passed away last month. Westwood, who breaks from the rail under Tyler Gaffalione, was scratched from the Santa Anita Handicap because his connections were concerned about that race’s 1 1/4-mile distance. :: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.