Retired NFL quarterback Jake Delhomme has an appreciation for young talent, whether it’s Patrick Mahomes in the upcoming Super Bowl or Touchuponastar in Saturday night’s $150,000 Premier Night Championship at Delta Downs. Delhomme has been following Mahomes since he was a rookie and is the owner of the 4-year-old Touchuponastar, who defeated older rivals for the third time in a row in the Louisiana Champions Day Classic in December at Fair Grounds. The Championship, which will be run at 1 1/16 miles, is the richest of six Louisiana-bred stakes on the card at Delta. They are worth a cumulative $650,000. :: DRF Bets players have exclusive access to FREE DRF Past Performances - Classic or Formulator! Join today.  Touchuponastar will break from post 2 in a field of nine that includes Who Took the Money, a winner of four stakes in his last five starts. Touchuponastar has won his last three races by a combined margin of 20 1/4 lengths in a streak that started in July. “It’s a pleasure to walk in the barn every day and see him,” said Delhomme, whose brother, Jeff Delhomme, trains Touchuponastar. Touchuponastar is a 4-year-old by Star Guitar. His dam, Touch Magic, won the Silverbulletday in 2013 at Fair Grounds. “I bought him at the Texas yearling sale and was very surprised he only brought $15,000,” Jake Delhomme said. “A few weeks earlier, the Louisiana sale had taken place and the Star Guitars sold extremely well. I was prepared to go to a great amount more than what I had to.” Delhomme said he became familiar with Touchuponastar ahead of the sale thanks to longtime friend Andrew Cary, who is the bloodstock adviser for the horse’s breeder, Coteau Grove Farms. “I know they raise a great horse,” Delhomme said. Touchuponastar put up a career-high Beyer Speed Figure of 99 for his win in the Louisiana Champions Day Classic. He led throughout under Timothy Thornton, who again has the mount Championship. “It’s a really good race,” Delhomme said. “They don’t give away $150,000.” Who Took the Money comes off a win in the $100,000 Louisiana Turf on Jan. 7 at Fair Grounds. He is returning to Delta, where he won the $100,000 Gold Cup on Oct. 8 with a career-high Beyer of 101. Who Took the Money rolled by more than seven lengths, covering seven furlongs around two turns in 1:24.51. “He ran in the Delta stakes at the beginning of the meet off a long layoff and I was pleasantly surprised he ran that well,” trainer Bret Calhoun said. “It was a fast race at Delta. He really loved the smaller track, tighter turns. It was a pleasant surprise. He ran a monster race and, hopefully, he’ll bring that same race back.” Deshawn Parker has the mount from the rail for Allied Racing Stables. Free Like a Girl will be facing seven others in the Distaff, which will be run at a mile. She will be looking for the 11th win of her career, which has spanned 22 races, and has earnings of $750,000. Along for the ride, as always, is jockey Pedro Cotto Jr. Cotto has ridden Free Like a Girl since she began racing in Louisiana in her fourth career start. She had previously been based in Texas. “He happened to come to the barn one day at Evangeline, asked if I had anything to work,” said Chasey Deville Pomier, who co-owns and trains Free Like a Girl. “I put him on her. He worked three for us that morning and came back and said, ‘I don’t care if I don’t ride anything else in the barn, let me ride her.’ ” Cotto has been aboard Free Like a Girl for all of her wins, which include nine stakes races. It’s been a partnership that has long been in the making. “He actually rode for my dad when I was a kid,” said Deville Pomier, the daughter of trainer Carl Deville. :: Bet the races with a $200 First Deposit Match and FREE Formulator PPs! Join DRF Bets. As for Free Like a Girl, she is returning to a track over which she is 4 for 5 following a win at Fair Grounds in the Bob F. Wright Memorial. “She loves this track – it is home,” Deville Pomier said. “This is where we started with her, started really training. She likes it, likes the surface on it. She loves Delta.” Free Drop Maddy will be looking for her third straight stakes win when she starts in the $100,000 Starlet, a one-mile race for 3-year-old fillies. Free Drop Maddy has made one start at two turns, and it came in her lone race at Delta. She finished third as the favorite in the Jewel in October. “I hope that race at Delta is a throw out,” Calhoun said. “It was early in the meet and the track was very, very deep. I don’t think she was herself that day on that track. I think she struggled with the surface. I’m hoping to catch a tighter track. They’ve been racing. That was the first of the meet. I don’t think a mile will be an issue. She’s trained like two turns wouldn’t be a problem.” ◗ Ova Charged will be looking for her sixth straight win when she runs in the $100,000 Matron. :: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.