Touchuponastar, perhaps the most promising Louisiana-bred in training, runs in one of the last two races on Louisiana Champions Day at Fair Grounds. Which one might not be known until scratch time Saturday morning. Touchuponastar was cross-entered in the $150,000 Classic, race 8, and in the $100,000 Sprint, the last of nine races. The Sprint, at six furlongs, might be on the short side for Touchuponastar, who drew post 14 for that race. The 1 1/8-mile Classic stretches Touchuponastar a furlong farther than he has run and matches him against prohibitive favorite Who Took the Money. Race choice comes down to Jake Delhomme, the former National Football League quarterback who calls plays for Touchuponastar. Delhomme is the principal in the gelding’s ownership group, Set Hut, and works closely with his brother, trainer Jeff Delhomme. :: DRF Bets members get FREE DRF Past Performances - Formulator or Classic. Join now! “Jake, he’s making all the decisions on this horse; what’s for breakfast, what’s for supper,” said Jeff Delhomme. “We’re keeping our options open until the last minute. You’d think everyone with a horse of that caliber might be leaning toward the Classic.” Touchuponastar, purchased for just $15,000, is by Star Guitar and out of Touch Magic, who won the 2013 Silverbulletday at Fair Grounds. Making his career debut closing day of the 2021-22 Fair Grounds season, Touchuponastar broke poorly and was last of 12 early in a six-furlong Louisana-bred maiden race before rolling home to finish an encouraging second. His other loss in five starts was a third-place stakes finish where Touchuponastar likely bounced three weeks after a 21 1/4-length maiden romp. He capped a summer campaign with a 7 1/4-length win and began his current form cycle Oct. 13 at Delta Downs with a ridiculously easy 8 1/4-length victory. Touchuponastar is bred to handle this nine-furlong trip, could wind up the controlling pace, and at 115 pounds gets nine pounds from Who Took the Money. “He’s done everything like a good horse, even on the gallops,” said Delhomme. “He’s been super professional.” Four-year-old Who Took the Money won the Champions Day Turf by more than five lengths one year ago and despite a dirt record of 7-6-1-0 might be a superior grass horse. With the Fair Grounds turf course out of commission until at least late this month, there’s no Champions Day Turf this year, though trainer Bret Calhoun said he’d have chosen the Classic anyway. Who Took the Money, an Allied Racing homebred by Street Boss, comes into the Classic following his two fastest races. Last month, winning the Scott’s Scoundrel in the slop, he failed to change leads in the homestretch yet won going away over one mile 70 yards, and Calhoun believes Who Took the Money can handle his first try over nine furlongs. “He’s a funny horse. He only moves when he’s ready to move, but he always comes running late. Sometimes he almost runs out of racetrack. I tend to believe he’ll be fine at the nine furlongs,” Calhoun said. Calhoun also entered Highland Creek, who is less capable than Who Took the Money but is a pace player who could hound Touchuponastar on the lead. Behemah Star is the other plausible winner. In the Sprint, Touchuponastar would face a challenging pace scenario: Eight entrants have TimeformUS early pace figures greater than 100, five of those over 110, and even on a surface favoring speed much of this meet, the Sprint could fall apart. Brian’s Iron Mike, an ascendant 3-year-old who won the Monte Man last, can stalk in the second flight but might be vulnerable to deeper closers like Unified Report and Jax Man, both double-digit odds on the morning line. Lassie/Ladies Distaff Patricia West had her own stable between 2010 and 2019 after working as an assistant trainer and exercise rider for 30 years. She went back to assistant training in 2019 before assembling a handful of horses and bringing a five-horse string to Fair Grounds for the 2021-22 meet. One of those was A G’s Charlotte, and A G’s Charlotte is one of two West-trained fillies that can win Saturday. A G’s Charlotte has steadily improved since a victorious debut 13 months ago. She comes into the 1 1/16-mile Ladies Distaff after the best race of her career, a win in the $75,000 Big World on the Nov. 18 card at Fair Grounds. One race later, West unveiled 2-year-old filly Norah G, who broke last of 12 in a Louisiana maiden sprint yet won well enough that she looks like a major player in the six-furlong Lassie. Both horses are homebreds owned by Thomas Galvin, one of West’s first phone calls when she decided to go back out on her own in 2021. Norah G, a robust gray filly by Fast Anna, appears especially talented by Louisiana standards. After starting tardily in her debut, she cruised into contention before the half-mile pole and came home strongly to score by more than three lengths. “She just does everything right. We’re expecting big things from her, although we were thinking she was going to be more a two-turn horse,” said West, who has nine winners from 39 runners during 2022. “I’m seeing the right things from her since her race.” Free Drop Maddy, a stakes-winner with five starts, and Tensas Candy, a stakes winner, are the more accomplished Lassie entrants, but Norah G could be the right horse at the right price. Bret Calhoun trains Free Drop Maddy and starts likely Ladies Distaff favorite Winning Romance, whom A G’s Charlotte nipped in the Big World. “I never thought she’d get beat going into that race, never thought during the race she’d get beat,” Calhoun said. “She came back very, very well. I expect another big effort.” A G’s Charlotte is a year younger than Winning Romance and possibly more of a true route horse. Saturday, she makes the third start of her form cycle, and another move forward isn’t impossible. “She needed to grow up and now she’s turned that corner,” said West, who has ably steered her 10-horse stable through a strong season. Juvenile Florida invader Tumbarumba should be heavily favored in the $100,000 Juvenile, and if that’s the case, Not On Herb should be worth a bet. Tumbarumba, based at the Palm Meadows training center with Brian Lynch, won a restricted maiden sprint Nov. 6 at Churchill Downs that produced an 86 Beyer, easily best among this group. He’s a plausible early leader, but the more likely scenario has Tumbarumba taking ample pace pressure while shipping and racing over a new surface. Not On Herb scored an eye-catching debut win Oct. 7 at Delta Downs and six weeks later at Fair Grounds won the Peluso Memorial by 1 1/2 lengths while looking like a colt who had more in the tank. ◗ Ova Charged figures tough to beat as an odds-on favorite in the $100,000 Ladies Sprint. The 4-year-old Brittlyn Stable homebred trained by Jose Camejo won this race by three-quarters of a length a year ago over Cilla, a much faster rival than Ova Charged faces Saturday. Rail-drawn Free Like a Girl is the main competition, while Wupkar will be scratched, per Calhoun. :: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.