Touchuponastar

4th-CD, $120k, Msw, 2yo, 5 1/2f, 2:13p.m. ET Leaving the four hole on this unveiling as the most expensive auction buy in the race, CANNONEER (Into Mischief) will be carrying the colors of the partnership of St Elias and Stonestreet Stables. A $1.75-million purchase last year at KEESEP, the son of top sire Into Mischief claims a fleet of accomplished half-siblings, most notable being the late GSW & MGISP Midnight Bourbon (Tiznow) and sire GISW Girvin (Tale of Ekati). Also in dam Catch the Moon (Malibu Moon)'s family portrait is...

After striking gold beyond the boundaries of the Golden State with Journalism (Curlin) in the GI Preakness Stakes a little more than a week ago, jockey Umberto Rispoli and trainer Michael McCarthy are liable to find themselves front and center on the special Memorial Day program at Santa Anita with Formidable Man (City of Light) in the GI Shoemaker Mile Stakes. And if statistics are anything to go by, they should prove tough to handle, as the duo has combined to win at something around 27% at the Great Race...

Al Pike is set to retire from his position as director of sales and the conditioner for 2-year-olds in-training at Highland Training Center, and will be replaced by Colin Brennan after the Fasig-Tipton Midlantic sale in May ends, the center announced via press release. While Pike will be retiring to Lexington, Kentucky with Brennan making the move to Texas, Pike will continue to work with Highlander in a consulting and advisory role. The retiring director and training began his career with horses in 1978 but eventually transitioned to a fruitful...

In racing, the advent of spring doesn't just mean delightful weather and foals capering through fields. It also means a multiplication of the number of graded events across the nation. The month of March boasted more graded races in the U.S. than January and February combined. With GI Kentucky Derby and Oaks preps in full swing, top older campaigners returning from winter breaks, and 2-year-old racing just around the corner, it's an exciting time in the sport. We took a look at trends and notable items from the country's graded...

During his 22 years serving in the Kentucky State Senate, Damon Thayer was known as a fierce advocate for the horse racing industry. Thayer decided not to run for re-election in 2024, but that doesn't mean that he stopped trying to help the sport, using his considerable political acumen to do so. Thayer has accepted the job as the senior advisor to the Thoroughbred Racing Initiative--a group formed to try to fight off efforts to decouple the racing and casino and card room licenses in Florida. To talk about his...

For much of his career, Touchuponastar (Star Guitar) was regarded as a good Louisiana-bred. Nothing more. Coming into Saturday's GII New Orleans Classic, he had won 14 races from 20 starts, but 13 of those wins had come in Louisiana-bred company. He beat open company in the 2023 Delta Mile S., but had never won a graded stakes race. Nothing figured to change in the Classic as Touchuponastar, a $15,000 yearling purchase, was set to face Sierra Leone (Gun Runner), last year's 3-year-old male champion who cost $2.3-million at the...

Touchuponastar (Star Guitar) could have won the Sunday stakes named for his sire practically by just showing up, but instead, connections took the path of greater resistance and allowed him to take his chance against the likes of Eclipse Award and GI Breeders' Cup Classic winner 'TDN Rising Star' Sierra Leone (Gun Runner) in Saturday's GII New Orleans Classic Stakes. Owned by former NFL quarterback Jake Delhomme's Set-Hut LLC, the Louisiana-bred played catch me if you can in front of a partisan crowd in the Big Easy and catch him...

As voted on by the Board of Directors of the Louisiana Thoroughbred Breeders Association, MSW & MGISP Free Like a Girl (El Deal) has been crowned the 2024 Louisiana-Bred Horse of the Year. Most recently seen running second to Horse of the Year 'TDN Rising Star' MGISW Thorpedo Anna (Fast Anna) in the GII Azeri Stakes, Free Like a Girl was awarded the highest honors for Louisiana-bred runners on the back of a 2024 season which saw her get her picture taken six times, and from 14 starts, she hit...

If it's Louisiana Champions Day, that means it's Touchuponastar (Star Guitar) day and the 5-year-old did not disappoint in winning the Champions Day Classic for the third consecutive season. Drawn widest while facing four others, the gelding poked his head in front with a circuit to travel and lobbed them along through a half-mile in :49.48 while tracked along by Benoit (Closing Argument). Held together on the turn by Tim Thornton, he remained under a double hammerlock while opening at will into the final furlong and cruised home untouched. The...

Voila Magic, the 9-2 third choice in this inexperienced group, wanted the front but had to contend with Acknowledge (Authentic) early to his inside. The pair dueled past the half-mile pole in :46.03 and it was Voila Magic who went on with things, putting that rival away off the far turn and opening up on his wrong lead to cruise home ridden out 5 3/4 lengths in front of 2-1 favorite Ennis Town (Echo Town). Voila Magic is Volatile (by Violence)'s second 'TDN Rising Star', joining Saratoga maiden winner and...

He's best known as a former NFL quarterback who nearly beat Tom Brady in Super Bowl XXXVIII. But Jake Delhomme, who starred for the Carolina Panthers, is also a passionate horse owner who, along with his father Jerry and his brother Jeff, operates Set-Hut Stable LLC. The Delhomme clan focuses on Louisiana-breds and this year they have come up with one of the best ever. Touchuponastar (Star Guitar) is 11-for-14 lifetime and will run this weekend at Fair Grounds, either against open company in Saturday's $500,000 GII New Orleans Classic...

On this week's TDN Writers' Room, former NFL player and horse owner Jake Delhomme discusses his stable standout Touchuponastar.