Closing Day Stakes Led by $100,000 Star Guitar Presented By Brittlyn Stable
New Orleans, La (March 17, 2025) – It’s been two years since they’ve faced each other but a rematch between Set-Hut’s Touchuponastar and Brittlyn Stable’s Behemah Star could be in the cards on closing day at Fair Grounds Race Course & Slots. Both titans of the statebred program are entered in the $100,000 Star Guitar Stakes presented by Brittlyn Stable, named in honor of the duo’s sire.
Closing Day for Fair Grounds Race Course & Slots’ 2024-2025 meet is on Sunday, March 23. The 12-race program concludes with three Louisiana-bred stakes beginning in Race 10 with the Star Guitar Stakes presented by Brittlyn Stable, followed by the $100,000 Page Cortez, and the swan song of the 153rd season of racing will be the $100,000 Shantel Lanerie Memorial Stakes.
After the last race on Sunday, Fair Grounds is hosting the 3rd Annual Breast Cancer Second Line benefiting the Shantel Lanerie foundation. In traditional second-line fashion, participants will be joined by a New Orleans brass band and parade across the infield.
Post time is 12:45 p.m. CT.
Made the morning line favorite for the Star Guitar, Touchuponastar is cross-entered in Saturday’s $500,000 New Orleans Classic (G2), a race the statebred phenom ran second in last year. Trained by Jeff Delhomme, Touchuponastar beat Behemah Star handily in the 2023 edition of the 1 1/16 miles Star Guitar, the last time these two faced each other.
Trainer Patricia West entered a dynamic duo in Sunday’s Page Cortez Stakes, led by Classy Judy G. The 5 1/2 furlong turf sprint attracted an oversubscribed field of 15.
Through six races, Fountain Grass Thoroughbred Farm’s Classy Judy G has four wins, including the Bob F. Wright Memorial. On the hunt for her fourth score this meet and her first victory on the grass, the 4-year-old Outwork filly will have her hands full with a formful field, including the presence of stablemate Tommie G. Second to the impeccable Highly Wicked in both the Red Camelia and Louisiana Champions Day Ladies Turf, Tom Galvin’s 4-year-old will attempt to get over her seconditis by cutting back in distance.
Nine older fillies and mares entered the 1 mile and 70 yards Shantel Lanerie Memorial, led by Brittlyn Stable’ Clearly a Test. Overdue for a win, the Shane Wilson trainee has finished in the money in each of her five starts since the beginning of the meet. With three stakes wins on her resume, the 4-year-old daughter of Clearly Now’s first added money score came this weekend last year in the 2024 Crescent City Oaks.
Compete fields for the trio of statebred stakes can be found on Equibase here: https://www.equibase.com/static/entry/FG032325USA-EQB.html.
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March 23rd will mark the 3rd annual Breast Cancer Survivor and Memorial Second Line at Fair Grounds Race Course & Slots. Set to take place after the last race, the beloved event honors fighters and survivors as the race to end cancer continues. In traditional second-line fashion, participants will be joined by a New Orleans brass band and parade across the apron.
Founded in September 2018, the Shantel Lanerie Breast Cancer Foundation (https://shantellaneriefoundation.com) was created in loving memory of Shantel Lanerie with the goal to help spread the message of education and early detection as well as to assist with the needs of those undergoing treatment. The wife of jockey Corey Lanerie, Shantel Lanerie died from complications from chemotherapy from Stage 1 breast cancer.
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About Fair Grounds Race Course & Slots
Fair Grounds Race Course & Slots, one of the nation’s oldest racetracks, has been in operation since 1872. Located in New Orleans, La, Fair Grounds, which is owned by Churchill Downs Incorporated (NASDAQ Global Select Market: CHDN), also operates a slot-machine gaming facility and 15 off-track betting parlors throughout Southeast Louisiana. The 153rd Thoroughbred Racing Season–highlighted by the 112th running of the Louisiana Derby–will run from Nov. 22, 2024 through March 23, 2025. More information is available online at www.fgno.com.
