Touchuponastar Spoils Sierra Leone's Return With Front-End Score In New Orleans Classic
Louisiana-bred gelding by Star Guitar rolls to 15th victory in 21 career starts for family of former NFL star Jake Delhomme
With five of the original 10 entrants scratched from Saturday's Grade 2 New Orleans Classic, trainer Chad Brown said he was concerned that his returning G1 Breeders' Cup Classic winner and Eclipse Award champion Sierra Leone was not going to get the kind of pace set-up he needs to show his best.
He was right.
While 3-10 favorite Sierra Leone was struggling at the back of the back in the nine-furlong race at Fair Grounds in New Orleans, La., Set-Hut LLC's Touchuponastar and jockey Tim Thornton were cruising on the front end, sailing along through fractions of :24.00, :47.40, and 1:10.78 through six furlongs.
The Louisiana-bred Star Guitar gelding had a brief challenge at the three-eighths pole from Hall of Fame and jockey Jose Ortiz, but put that rival away at the top of the stretch, clicking off a mile in 1:35.35 and pulling away to win by 2 1/2 lengths. Hall of Fame finished second, two lengths ahead of Sierra Leone, with San Siro and Komorebino Omoide rounding out the five-horse field of older runners.
Kinetic, Maycocks Bay, Uno Mas Bourbon, Tarantino and Bishops Bay were scratched.
Touchuponastar, winning for the 15th time in 21 career starts, covered 1 1/8 miles on a fast track in 1:48.10. He paid $15 to win. Runner-up to Red Route One in the 2024 New Orleans Classic, this was his first graded stakes victory.
The New Orleans Classic winner is trained by Jeff Delhomme, the brother of former NFL quarterback Jake Delhomme, who races under the Set Hut LLC stable name.
“He has been doing so well," said Jake Delhomme. "Tim (Thronton) said to us after working him a few weeks back, ‘I don’t think he’s ever been doing this good.’ Yesterday morning when he galloped, when he came by I swear to you he was floating on air. We’re from Louisiana and this is a homegrown horse. He is a fan favorite. We’re just blessed to have this big guy in our barn.”
“He always does his job," said Thornton. "Making the lead alone, having him prick his ears, I knew we were ready to win this. At the three-eighths pole I took a little pressure but he was there for me. The Delhommes do such a great job with their horses.”
Flavien Prat, who gave Sierra Leone a brisk warm-up prior to the race, said the Gun Runner colt "never got into a rhythm. He was struggling to keep up the pace. He made a run late but those horses were all running away.”
