Touchuponastar Delivers Memorable New Orleans Classic Win — Louisiana-bred upsets Sierra Leone for the hometown team

New Orleans, La (March 22, 2025) – Tackling open company rivals for just the sixth time in his 21-race career in front of a roaring hometown crowd at Fair Grounds Race Course & Slots, the Louisiana-bred 6-year-old gelding Touchuponastar left the gate running and he never stopped, completing a memorable gate-to-wire voyage in Saturday’s $500,000 New Orleans Classic (G2) presented by Relyne GI by Hagyard.

Sent off as the 6-1 third choice in a field that scratched down to just five runners, the son of Star Guitar carved out moderate early fractions of 24 and 47.40 for the nine furlong distance. Hall of Fame was in chase mode in second, while the Eclipse Award winning Sierra Leone, making his 4-year-old debut at the scene of last year’s Risen Star (G2) victory, trailed down the backstretch. Off the far turn, Touchuponastar began to inch away from the pack, and he maintained a safe margin to the wire, winning by 2 ½ comfortable lengths in a final time of 1:48.10, not far off the track record of 1:47.64 set by Nate’s Mineshaft in 2012 edition of the same race. Hall of Fame finished second and the .30-1 favorite Sierra Leone, last year’s Kentucky Derby runner-up who earned 3-year-old championship honors off his season-ending win in the Breeders’ Cup Classic (G1) was two lengths further back in third. San Siro and Komorebino Omoide (JPN) completed the order of finish.

“He always does his job,” said winning rider Timothy Thornton, who has ridden Touchuponastar in all but one of his 21 of his lifetime starts. “Making the lead alone, having him prick his ears, I knew we were ready to win this. At the 3/8ths pole I took a little pressure but he was there for me. The Delhomme’s do such a great job with their horses.”

A $15,000 yearling purchase, 6-year-old Touchuponastar now boast 21-15-4-2 with a bankroll of $1,412,900 for Set-Hut LLC and trainer Jeff Delhomme.

He was cross entered in Sunday’s $100,000 Star Guitar Stakes restricted to Louisiana-breds, but after finishing second Red Route One in last year’s New Orleans Classic, the connections decided at the last minute to test the deeper, open company waters once again.

“He has been doing so well,” said owner and former NFL quarterback Jake Delhomme. “Tim (jockey Thornton) 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.”

Touchuponastar returned $15.00, $5.60, and $2.60. Hall of Fame paid $4.00, and $2.20, while Sierra Leone paid $2.10 to show.

Additional quotes

Jose Ortiz (2nd aboard Hall of Fame)

“He broke good. I attacked (Touchuponastar) around the 3/8th pole. I was worried about Sierra Leone coming from the back so I tried to time it right. We were rolling from half a mile to a wire. The winner is a nice horse.”

Flavien Prat (3rd aboard Sierra Leone)

“He 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.”

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