His first two starts following a five-month layoff hinted that Geaux Sugar might be the same horse who won last year’s Louisiana Champions Day Sprint. His race Saturday in this year’s Champions Day Sprint left no doubt about it. Rail-drawn Geaux Sugar broke like a rocket under Mitchell Murrill and had two lengths on his Sprint rivals after seven jumps. He never came close to losing that early lead. Cruising through splits of 22.08 and 44.68 seconds, Geaux Sugar cornered for home with plenty of gas in the tank. El Dinero, who’d stalked the pace while saving ground, came off the fence past the three-sixteenths marker and tried to make a contest of it, but Geaux Sugar saw him off, winning by 1 1/2 lengths. El Dinero checked in three lengths in front of longshot third-place finisher Strong Promise. Not On Herb beat Geaux Sugar last month in the Andrew Ney Memorial, but while that race moved Geaux Sugar forward, it took the starch out of Not On Herb, who faded to last of six. Geaux Sugar paid $6 as the narrow favorite and ran six furlongs over a fast track in 1:09.94. Geaux Sugar hardly looked like this kind of horse during the earlier portion of his career. In his sixth start, June 2023, he was claimed for $10,000, the same price Ralph Cox’s Single Malt Stable, trainer Keith Bourgeois dropping the claim, paid in May 2024. A great claim, it turns out. :: Access the most trusted data and information in horse racing! DRF Past Performances and Picks are available now. Bred by Earl Hernandez, Keith Hernandez, and John Duvieilh, Geaux Sugar is a gelded 5-year-old son of Half Ours and Fifolet, by Stormy Atlantic. Four starts after Bourgeois started training him, in November 2024, Geaux Sugar announced his presence as a Louisiana stakes sprinter narrowly winning a $100,000 race at Fair Grounds. Three weeks later, he came home nearly five lengths best in the Champions Day Sprint, holding that form – or close to it – for five more starts over five months. The key Saturday, easily his best showing since returning from his summer layoff: Geaux Sugar’s electric start. “He’s an absolute beast,” said Murrill, who has partnered with Geaux Sugar since his ascent 13 months ago. “He’s fast and he’s very brave when he gets that separation between horses. He keeps fighting all the way home.” Did they really think they were running down this sharp sprinter, back on top of his game Saturday? Neaux chance. Allnight Moonlight takes Turf Allnight Moonlight did not immediately display a fondness for turf racing. Far from it. Making his grass debut in his ninth start, Allnight Moonlight in August 2023 finished 10th. The gelding went back to dirt his next 10 starts and rose to the level of Louisiana-bred stakes winner. But Allnight Moonlight’s second grass start, in the Eddie Johnston Memorial last March at Fair Grounds, revealed his first as a red herring. He won the Johnston at odds of 24-1, and on Saturday won the $125,000 Louisiana Champions Day Turf as the 3-2 favorite. Jose Ortiz rode Allnight Moonlight – correctly – as the best horse in the Turf, settling him in eighth through the backstretch, about five lengths behind slow-pacesetting He’s Late Again, happy to trade ground loss on the far turn for a clean trip. Ortiz asked for a little more coming to the three-furlong marker and his mount gave it to him, moving up smoothly before Ortiz truly called upon him after cornering for home. Allnight Moonlight’s run comes more steadily than flashily, but he ground his way to the lead and had plenty left to hold off a belated wide bid from Pegaso, who nabbed second from Cajun Mitole. The winning margin was 1 3/4 lengths. Allnight Moonlight ran 1 1/16 miles over a firm course in 1:45.78 and paid $5. Sam Breaux trains the 5-year-old for Roger Smith. Bred by Coteau Grove Farm, 5-year-old Allnight Moonlight is by Ransom the Moon out of Gingertini, by Medaglia d’Oro. In the five turf starts since Breaux moved the horse back to grass, Allnight Moonlight has gone 3-2-0. Solid on dirt, better, it turns out, on turf. :: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.