Touchuponastar Cruises to Fourth Straight Louisiana Premier Night Championship at Delta Downs

Touchuponastar completed a dominant run at Delta Downs, winning the $150,000 Louisiana Premier Night Championship for the fourth consecutive year and further cementing his place among Louisiana-bred stars. The bay gelding, ridden by Tim Thornton and trained by Jeff Delhomme, added $90,000 to a bankroll that now stands at $1,760,000 after the 1 1/16-mile test.

Sent off the overwhelming favorite at 1-9 in a field of five, Touchuponastar broke from the outside post and was urged toward the front without taking the early lead. Longshot A Million Moons set the opening fractions, covering the quarter in 23.38 seconds and the half in 46.88 while being pressed by Touchuponastar. The favorite finished where expected on the toteboard, paying $2.10 to win and $2.10 to place; there was no show wagering. The Don Stevens press release noted, “Mangum paid $2.10 to place.”

The victory was the 20th in Touchuponastar’s 27 starts, a record that underlines both durability and consistent class in state-restricted stakes. Bred by Coteau Grove Farms, Touchuponastar is by Star Guitar out of the Lion Heart mare Touch Magic. That $1,760,000 career total now surpasses the sire Star Guitar’s career earnings of $1,749,862, though the mare Free Like a Girl still holds the Louisiana-bred earnings record at $2,565,628.

Touchuponastar’s back story reinforces the value of Louisiana sales and pinhooking for local racing programs. The gelding was purchased for $15,000 at the 2020 Texas Summer Sale, a modest outlay that has delivered outsized returns for owner Set-Hut LLC, which Sports Yahoo identifies with Jake Delhomme. Trainer Jeff Delhomme and jockey Tim Thornton added another chapter to that investment thesis with a textbook performance in front of a Premier Night crowd.

Several program-level details differ across accounts of Premier Night. The track press release and multiple outlets described Delta Downs hosting the 23rd edition with an 11-race program featuring more than $900,000 in purses, while breeder Coteau Grove Farms described a 20th edition and listed a 12-race, $980,000 program. Coteau’s social copy also included an alternate age listing for Touchuponastar; the track release and most media reports identify him as a 7-year-old. Those discrepancies merit verification with Delta Downs for the official chart.

Historically, Touchuponastar has drawn praise from his connections; in archived 2022 coverage Timothy Thornton said, “We knew he was a special horse all along.” That earlier comment now reads like foreshadowing as Touchuponastar extends a rare streak at Premier Night and pushes state-bred earning milestones. For Delta Downs and Louisiana breeding programs, the performance underscores the economic and cultural impact of locally bred champions and keeps the Premier Night spotlight squarely on homegrown talent.