Touchuponastar makes it look easy in Louisiana Champions Day Classic

Three-year-old Touchuponastar got a lot of weight and an easy lead and made short work of his older rivals in the $150,000 Louisiana Champions Day Classic, the featured race Saturday at Fair Grounds.

One race later, Big Chopper, who’d handily defeated Touchuponastar this past summer at Evangeline Downs, rallied strongly into a hot, contested pace and won the $100,000 Champions Sprint by 3 3/4 lengths.

Touchuponastar and jockey Tim Thornton took full advantage of the nine pounds they got from older horses like odds-on favorite Who Took the Money, powering home to a 4 3/4-length win over Behemah Star. Who Took the Money, last down the backstretch behind a slow half-mile in 49.34 seconds, had little chance at the winner given the pace dynamics and could do no better than third, finishing a half-length behind Behemah Star.

Purchased at auction for $15,000, Touchuponastar is owned by Set-Hut, whose principal is former National Football League quarterback Jake Delhomme. Jeff Delhomme, Jake’s older brother, trains the talented Louisiana-bred son of Star Guitar and the Lion Heart mare, Touch Magic.

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Touchuponastar was cross-entered in the Classic and the Sprint, Jeff Delhomme saying earlier this week that Jake Delhomme planned to make a final race choice Saturday morning. He chose well.

The day got off to an ugly start for Thornton and Set Hut when a first-time starter named Thomas Davis broke down on the far turn during the second race, sending Thornton hard to the Fair Grounds dirt. Thornton came back to finish unplaced in the next race, then awaited his chance on Touchuponastar, who was racing beyond one mile for the first time.

Touchuponastar debuted March 27 in a Fair Grounds sprint, costing himself victory with a slow break while closing strongly to finish second. On May 13, he won a seven-furlong Evangeline Downs maiden race by more than 21 lengths while never asked for run, and Jeff Delhomme felt connections had run Touchuponastar back too quickly when he returned three weeks later and finished an even third in his stakes debut.

The Delhommes since have taken a more prudent approach. Coming back on seven weeks' rest, Touchuponastar aired in an Evangeline allowance race July 27 and didn’t start again until Oct. 13, when he rolled to the easiest of victories in a Delta Downs allowance. Connections then passed on a November prep for the Classic to bring a fresh horse from their base at the Copper Crown Training Center to New Orleans.

On paper, it looked like Highland Creek, Who Took the Money’s stablemate, had the speed to push Touchuponastar, and Thornton said he was surprised to find himself cruising along through an opening quarter-mile in a moderate 24.55 seconds. Thornton, who winters at Delta Downs, rode a perfect Fair Grounds race. When stalkers crept closer heading into the far turn, Thornton let his mount out a half-notch to maintain a lead. And when Behemah Star loomed at the five-sixteenths pole, nearly drawing abreast of Touchuponastar, Thornton sat chilly until the quarter pole, throwing the reins at Touchuponastar, who rapidly took a lead of several lengths.

Twice, Thornton looked back for competition and, seeing none, hand-rode Touchuponastar through the finish. Winning time for the nine furlongs over a fast track was 1:50.66, the winning payoff a generous $12.60. Touchuponastar now is 4-1-1 from six starts and has his trainer thinking big. “We have a lot of options – maybe even outside Louisiana-bred horses.”

When Touchuponastar finished third last summer in the Louisiana Legends Cheval, it was Big Chopper who went wire to wire in that two-turn mile. Big Chopper, another 3-year-old, proved even more effective cutting back to six furlongs in the Champions Day Sprint, rallying sharply under Corey Lanerie.

Even with two pace players scratched, Schnell and Takes Two to Tango, the Sprint unfolded at a breakneck tempo, Mike J leading 2-1 favorite Bertie’s Galaxy through a quarter-mile in 21.57 and a half in 44.79. Seventh along the rail at the quarter pole, Big Chopper was steered off heels and to the far outside at the three-sixteenths pole by Corey Lanerie, pouncing on the tiring leader at the half-furlong marker and proving much the best. Relentless Dancer finished second by a half-length over a brave Mike J as Bertie’s Galaxy faded to last of 12.

Big Chopper ($15), who had never raced from more than a couple lengths off the lead, was timed in 1:10.24 while winning for the fourth time in 14 starts. By Shackleford out of Miss Well Molded, by Unusual Heat, Big Chopper is a homebred campaigned by owner Kendel Standlee and trainer Scott Gelner.

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