Touchuponastar, winner of seven Louisiana-bred stakes, is set to make a rare venture into open company in Saturday’s Grade 2, $500,000 New Orleans Classic at Fair Grounds. A 5-year-old gelding by Star Guitar, Touchuponastar has 11 wins from 14 starts, all but two of his races coming in statebred company. Though he is cross-entered in Sunday’s $100,000 Star Guitar Stakes for Louisiana-breds, trainer Jeff Delhomme said Wednesday he’s leaning toward running in the 1 1/8-mile New Orleans Classic. Touchuponastar won the Delta Mile against open company last November and finished a solid second in the Grade 3 Steve Sexton Mile at Lone Star last May. “The Delta Mile was one of his better races,” Delhomme said, noting that his horse dueled with the next-out winner Five Star General “and we were able to pull away in that race and he showed some fight.” :: Get the Inside Track with the FREE DRF Morning Line Email Newsletter. Subscribe now.  In the Sexton Mile, where he broke from the outside in a 10-horse field, Touchuponastar took heat from three different horses and put those rivals away before giving way late to Frosted Grace. Delhomme said he would like to take another shot at the Sexton Mile after this race. Touchuponastar is a front-running type and will likely have to deal with another quality front-runner in Best Actor, who comes off a head defeat to Money Supply in the Grade 3 Mineshaft on Feb. 17 at Fair Grounds. Delhomme said jockey Tim Thornton has expressed confidence in Touchuponastar being able to sit off another horse if need be. “We’ll let Timmy decide that and go from there,” Delhomme said. “It’s a pretty long run to the first turn, not like in Texas, where it was blow and go and I was coming from the 10-hole.” Saturday, Touchuponastar breaks from post 3. In the Mineshaft, Money Supply rallied to wear down Best Actor for his fifth consecutive victory and his first in a graded race. Money Supply, a 5-year-old son of Practical Joke claimed by Joe Sharp for $35,000 last August at Saratoga, has won at distances from a mile to 1 1/8 miles and has handled dirt, mud, and slop. Though Money Supply did beat Best Actor last out, Sharp still views him as the one to fear Saturday. “When he got to Best Actor that horse had something left and he dug back in,” Sharp said. “Just because we beat him last time doesn’t make me think he’s behind us. He’s definitely the horse to beat in our opinion, but it does look like a pretty good pace scenario.” A wild card in the field is Super Corinto. A Group 1 winner in Chile, he did win an allowance race in December 2022 at Gulfstream. In his lone start since, he finished 14th in the Dubai World Cup in 2023. Super Corinto has since undergone ankle surgery to remove a chip and has been transferred to Ignacio “Nacho” Correas, who said the horse might need a race to be at his best. “I think he’s as good as I can get him for a comeback, but I think he’s going to be better next race,” Correas said. Irad Ortiz Jr. rides Super Corinto from post 7. Gasoline and Red Route One, third and fourth in the Mineshaft, are back in this spot. Blackbelt and Happy American complete the field. Lure Him In is expected to scratch. Benson Memorial Watch This Birdie has come up two lengths short in each of her first two stakes tries at Fair Grounds this meet. Saturday, she gets a chance to avenge those defeats when she starts in a seemingly wide-open renewal of the $150,000 Tom Benson Memorial Stakes at 1 1/16 miles on turf for fillies and mares. Correas felt the mile may have been a tad short for Watch This Birdie when she was beaten two lengths by Tufani in December’s Pago Hop. In last month’s Albert M. Stall Memorial, Watch This Birdie rallied seven wide in the stretch while the eventual winner, Spirit and Glory, cut the corner and rallied along the rail to get the victory. “She always runs well, but it looks like she’s always needing a bit more to win,” Correas said. “Hopefully, she can put it together this weekend. She has been training great and it looks like they’re going to have a little bit more pace and that should help her.” The Benson drew 14, including Tufani, who ran fourth in the Marie Krantz in January and has not run since, and Spirit and Glory, who posted a career-best 91 Beyer Speed Figure in her first start off a six-month layoff. Those two horses are the co-highweights at 124 pounds, each spotting six pounds to Watch This Birdie. Delahaye ships in for Chad Brown coming off a first-level allowance win on Jan. 31 at Gulfstream. She has been a forward factor in each of her last two starts – both wins – and this marks her stakes debut. “She looks the part of a stakes horse. She really has taken a while to get herself going,” Brown said. “She has good positional speed and can carry it. I’m looking for her to have a nice year.” Delahaye and Not So Close, another front-runner, drew posts 10 and 13, respectively. ◗ Blue Eyed George would be trying dirt for the first time while facing Louisiana-breds for the first time should his connections choose the $125,000 Crescent Derby over Saturday’s $250,000 Rushaway Stakes at Turfway Park. Blue Eyed George is a two-time winner on turf and is coming off a third in the John Battaglia Stakes over Turfway’s synthetic on March 2. Blue Eyed George also would get to run on Lasix for the first time should he run here. El Dinero, who two back won the Premier Prince Stakes for statebreds at Delta Downs, and Good and Stout add to the competitiveness of this race. ◗ Dallas Stewart could win the $125,000 Crescent City Oaks with one of two 3-year-old fillies. Accommodate Eva would be the one beat if she runs. However, Accommodate Eva is cross-entered in the Fair Grounds Oaks later on the card. A decision on where to run is likely to made race day. In the absence of Accommodate Eva, Stewart also has Platinum Minit coming off a head victory over Clearly a Test in her first start going two turns. Clearly a Test, also in this field, finished 9 1/2 lengths clear of the rest of the field in that Feb. 4 race. Lightofmaine is another contender in this field. ◗ Brian’s Iron Mike, beaten a nose at 15-1 in last year’s $100,000 Costa Rising Stakes, looms a bit shorter price in this same 5 1/2-furlong turf sprint on Saturday. In his only other turf-sprint try since, Brian’s Iron Mike was beaten a length by My Pal Mattie, who is back in this field but who is unlikely to get loose on the lead like he did last out. :: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.