Star Guitar left wide open if Touchuponastar goes in New Orleans Classic
NEW ORLEANS, La. – The top Louisiana-bred racehorse of the last several years drew the rail for the penultimate race of the 2024-25 Fair Grounds meet, but as of Friday the question remained whether Touchuponastar would race on Sunday or one day earlier.
Touchuponastar’s owner, Jake Delhomme, who races as set Set-Hut, and Delhomme’s brother, trainer Jeff Delhomme, have faced a tough decision since the March 22 card was drawn a week ago. Touchuponastar could run Saturday in the $400,000 New Orleans Classic, in which he finished second a year ago, or await the $100,000 Star Guitar, one of three Louisiana-bred stakes Sunday.
Awaiting Touchuponastar on Saturday would be the 2024 3-year-old champion and Breeders’ Cup Classic winner, Sierra Leone, as well as other horses just as talented as the one who beat him in 2024, Red Route One.
Awaiting him Sunday is a group of statebred-restricted rivals the likes of which Touchuponastar has dominated during a 20-start career that has yielded a 14-4-2 record.
While no decision had been finalized, Jake Delhomme said early Friday afternoon that he was leaning toward the New Orleans Classic.
If Touchuponastar shows up Sunday, he goes straight to the lead under Tim Thornton and does what he’s done in his last 12 Louisiana-bred starts – win.
If he races a day earlier, the Star Guitar becomes relatively competitve. Behemah Star the last two years has stepped into a void left when Touchuponastar’s camp has opted for open competition, but Behemah Star doesn’t appear quite the same horse he was a year ago. Allnight Moonlight and Benoit provide two obvious alternatives.
The Star Guitar’s sister race, the $100,000 Shantel Lanerie Memorial, goes as race 12. The stakes closes the lid on the Fair Grounds racing season, and looks like an absolute scramble, though Liberal Lady figures to get bet well below her 5-1 morning line, perhaps into favoritism. Liberal Lady ships from California for trainer Leonard Powell, has speed, and at her best has been fast enough to wire this field under leading rider Jose Ortiz, but her last strong effort came nearly 10 months ago.
The tepid selection is Clearly a Test, who fits well, has the right running style for the likely race shape, but often settles for second in races she might have won.
Sandwiched between the two dirt stakes is the $100,000 Page Cortez, a turf sprint for older fillies and mares. Six String is the 5-2 morning-line favorite, but the selection is From Scratch, who has faced open competition in her two turf starts.
Sharp closes in on title
Joe Sharp makes no bones about it: He was disappointed when he won 49 races at two Fair Grounds meets, in 2017-18 and 2018-19, and still failed to land a training title. Normally, that number of winners would top the standings, but both seasons Brad Cox notched 53 wins. It has come down to Sharp and Cox again – and this time, it looks like Sharp has it.
Sharp has been live this entire meet and, going into the March 21 card, had won with seven of his last 14 starters. He came into that card with a 35-to-29 lead over Cox and has horses for 10 races the meet’s last three days compared to nine for Cox.
◗ It’d be hard to tally the number of well-aged turf horses that trainer Mike Maker has claimed and improved, often to the level of stakes success. Ambivalent could be the latest in that line. Maker and owners David Staudacher and Paradise Farms claimed 7-year-old Ambivalent, a turf sprinter, for $50,000 on Feb. 7. On March 18, racing for an $80,000 tag, Ambivalent won a turf sprint also open to third-level allowance horses, and the 97 Beyer Speed Figure he posted was a career best as well as the highest grass figure at this meet.
◗ Marcelino Pedroza Jr. had been expected to return March 18 after missing time following a spill the prior racing week, but Pedroza has remained too sore to take accept mounts and won’t ride in a race again until April 11, according to his agent, Anthony Martin.
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