Touchuponastar back against open company in Delta Mile
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Touchuponastar will be looking to nail down the 15th stakes win of his career Saturday night, when the top-class Louisiana-bred meets open company in the $100,000 Delta Downs Mile.
The race for 3-year-olds and up shares a card with the $100,000 Treasure Chest.
Touchuponastar is part of a field of seven that includes fellow stakes winners Cajun Mitole, Blue Devil, The Donegal Clan, and Highland Creek. The Delta Mile is slotted as the sixth race, with a scheduled post of 7:04 p.m. Central.
Touchuponastar is the class of the field as a Grade 2 winner of more than $1.5 million. He won the Delta Mile in 2023 and enters this year’s renewal off a 5 3/4-length win in the $100,000 Gold Cup on Oct. 11 at Delta. Touchuponastar set a track record for seven furlongs in the race, when he covered the two-turn distance in 1:24.27.
It was another standout performance from the 6-year-old gelded son of Star Guitar bred by Coteau Grove Farms. Touchuponastar, who earned a Beyer Speed Figure of 103 for his victory in the Gold Cup, ranks fourth on the all-time earnings list among Louisiana-breds. There are a number of variables that have set the horse apart in his division and led to his longevity.
“There’s a quality to the breeders, the stallion, and the mare,” owner Jake Delhomme said after the Gold Cup. “They produced a horse that is very versatile and that, knock on wood, has been very sound. We give him time and I’d like to think we don’t squeeze the lemon. We try to do what’s right by the horse. We like having him in the barn – like we like seeing him. Yes, we could maybe travel a little, run some races here or there, but that’s kind of not our setup. That’s not our deal.”
Touchuponastar, who is trained by Jeff Delhomme, will break from post 5 under regular rider Timothy Thornton.
The Delta Mile is a important race to win in its own right as the richest offering for open company at the meet, but it’s also served as a stepping-stone to one of Touchuponastar’s most notable accomplishments in Louisiana.
He has won the Louisiana Champions Day Classic at Fair Grounds the last three years, and each time he has come off a race at Delta. Jake Delhomme said last month he’s hopeful Touchuponastar will be in a position to bid for a fourth win in next month’s Champions Day Classic. It would be an unprecedented feat for the horse who is 17 for 24.
“He’s special and we love him up like we do all of them, but he’s just different,” Jake Delhomme said. “Those different horses behave different, act different, have different demeanor about them.”
◗ Zaghruta invades from Indiana for the Treasure Chest, which is for fillies and mares at a mile. She won an allowance in her last out Oct. 9 and will be looking for her first stakes win Saturday. Paco Lopez has the mount from the rail in the field of 10.
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