Touchuponastar goes for seven in a row in the Steve Sexton Mile
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GRAND PRAIRIE, Texas – Touchuponastar will attempt to win his seventh straight race Monday, when he steps outside of the Louisiana-bred ranks for the first time in the Grade 3, $400,000 Steve Sexton Mile at Lone Star Park.
“We’re going to cross state lines and try to take a shot,” said owner Jake Delhomme.
The Sexton Mile anchors the Lone Star Million Day card of six stakes worth a total of $1.2 million. The races include the $300,000 Texas Derby that drew Curly Jack and the $100,000 Speightstown, led by the win-streaking Skelly.
The card of 12 races ends with the Sexton Mile. It will not be exported to out-of-state wagering sites due to an ongoing impasse between the Texas Racing Commission and the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority. The signal will go to other tracks in Texas, and into some international sites like Canada.
Touchuponastar faces 11 others, including Allege, who is going for his sixth straight win; Grade 2 winner Endorsed; and Mine That Bird’s half-brother Mine That Star. Silver Prospector, a Grade 2-winning millionaire, will be seeking to land in the Sexton winner’s circle for the second straight year Monday.
“Trying to return to the scene of glory,” said trainer Steve Asmussen.
Touchuponastar could go favored after putting up triple-digit Beyer Speed Figures in each of his last three starts. His latest was a career-best 102 for his 9 1/4-length win in the Evangeline Downs Classic at a mile May 6. Touchuponastar has won his last six races by a combined margin of 35 1/2 lengths.
“I think the horse is taking us there,” said Delhomme, the retired NFL quarterback who has Touchuponastar in training with his brother Jeff Delhomme. “He’s doing great and we said, ‘Let’s take a shot.’ It’s a tall task. We certainly understand this is much deeper water than he’s had to jump into, but we’re going to give him a shot.”
Touchuponastar began his streak last July, in an entry-level allowance at Evangeline. He proceeded to use his speed to take a three-other-than allowance at Delta Downs, then four straight stakes that ranged from the $150,000 Louisiana Champions Day Classic at Fair Grounds in December and the $150,000 Louisiana Premier Championship in February at Delta.
Timothy Thornton has been aboard Touchuponastar for all the wins in his streak and again has the mount Monday from post 11.
“The post is very tough,” Jake Delhomme said. “I’ve gone back and watched all the replays of the Sexton Mile the last five, six years. We’ll see. I feel very comfortable with Timmy being on him.
“Timmy’s always felt that he doesn’t need the lead. It’s just he breaks and puts himself in a good rhythm. Even in the [Premier] at Delta, when he won, the ground broke out from underneath him he broke so hard. He was behind horses on that sandy kickback early on and he kind of took Timmy and said, ‘Let’s go this way,’ and so, we’ll see. Certainly, we would love to be able to break well and put ourselves in a good position because it’s a 12-horse field.”
Touchuponastar, who is 7 for 9 with earnings of $334,100, is returning to Lone Star for the first time since he was a yearling. The son of Star Guitar and the stakes-winning mare Touch Magic was sold at the Texas Thoroughbred Association auction in 2020.
“How I got him for $15,000 I’ll never understand,” Delhomme said. “I thought he was nice horse, a beautiful physical – the spitting image of his dad.”
Silver Prospector was a sharp winner of a mile allowance in February at Oaklawn. In his last start, he was sixth in the Grade 3 Oaklawn Mile.
“Not an ideal trip,” Asmussen said. “He’s training really well right now.”
Stewart Elliott, who rode Silver Prospector in last year’s Sexton Mile, has the mount from post 7.
Asmussen also saddles Allege, who comes off a $25,000 starter allowance win over 1 1/4 miles at Churchill Downs.
“Five wins in a row now, so we’ll see what he can get done,” Asmussen said. “He’s won at Lone Star before. It’s kind of a homecoming for him.”
Asmussen noted the horse’s ownership, which includes Chuck Hovitz, has ties to Texas.
Endorsed won the Grade 2 Gulfstream Park Mile at one turn in March. In his last start, he was eighth to his half-brother Cody’s Wish in the Grade 1 Churchill Downs Stakes. Tyler Gaffalione has the mount from post 8 for trainer Mike Maker.
Texas Derby
The unbeaten Black Powder will make his stakes debut in the Texas Derby, a 1 1/16 miles race that drew 11.
“He’s a Gun Runner,” Asmussen said. “He’s a nice, talented horse that gives up some seasoning with only two races – but he’s definitely run fast.”
Black Powder enters off a pair of route wins at Oaklawn – a maiden special weight over older rivals and a first-level allowance for which he earned a Beyer of 86.
His rivals include stakes winners Curly Jack, Hayes Strike, Rarified Flair, Eyeing Clover, Ghost Hero, and How Did He Do That.
Ricardo Santana Jr. has the mount on Black Powder from post 9.
Speightstown Stakes
Santana will take his regular seat aboard Skelly when the crack sprinter attempts to win his fifth straight race in the Speightstown. The six-furlong race for 3-year-olds and up also drew Go West, who is 4 for 5 in 2023.
Santana has been aboard Skelly throughout his streak, which includes wins in the Grade 3, $500,000 Count Fleet Sprint Handicap and $150,000 Lake Hamilton, both six-furlong races at Oaklawn.
“We obviously love Skelly at three-quarters of a mile,” Asmussen said. “He’s put together some very impressive races.”
In the Speightown’s counterpart for fillies and mares, the $100,000 Memorial Day Sprint, Asmussen has champion Echo Zulu entered. However, he said she would run instead in the Grade 3 Winning Colors, which is Monday at Churchill.
The defection makes for a field of 10, including Asmussen trainee Headland. Elliott has the mount. Last year, the Memorial Day Sprint was one of three stakes the trainer and jockey teamed to win on Million Day.
◗ Juncture adds a set of blinkers for the $200,000 Ouija Board Distaff and the last time she wore the equipment she was a winner. Gaffalione has the mount in the mile turf race for fillies and mares for trainer Brad Cox. The field includes multiple stakes winner Lovely Ride.
◗ Excess Magic seeks to win the $100,000 Chamberlain Bridge at five furlongs on turf for the second year in a row. Reylu Gutierrez returns to ride for trainer Bret Calhoun.
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