Betting With, and Against, Touchuponastar in the New Orleans Classic

Set-Hut, LLC’s #3 Touchuponastar (3-1) is the morning-line choice for Saturday’s $500,000 New Orleans Classic S. (G2) at Fair Grounds. And the genuine Cajun-bred will be formidable if he runs his best race. 

Trained by Jeff Delhomme, the son of local legend Star Guitar has compiled a superb 14-11-2-1 mark in his lifetime to date with a trio of those tallies coming over this oval. The fleet bay is 2-for-2 at the distance, as well, and he will dare his foes to run with him early on. He has yet to be a mainstay with open foes, as much of his success has come at the state-bred level, but it’s hard to fault his fantastic form with regular pilot Timmy Thornton in the stirrups. 

Touchuponastar – With

$5 trifecta key 3 with 1,5,7,9 ($60)

Touchuponastar – Against

$3 exacta box 1,5,7,9 ($36)

$.10-cent superfecta 1,5,7,9 with 1,3,5,7,9 with 1,3,5,7,9 with all ($33.60)

For those looking to go against the pacesetter, I think a quartet of contenders will be worth keeping an eye on in the tilt. Second choice #9 Best Actor (7-2) has considerable talent and ran too good to lose when a head second in the Mineshaft (G3) here last time out. By Flatter, the Brad Cox trainee has generally done his best work when leading early on, but he has also won from off the early tempo, and the dark bay will likely have to do the latter on Saturday. He is a must-use in his second off the layoff under Flavien Prat. 

Chilean Group 1 victor #7 Super Corinto (12-1) was never a factor in the Dubai World Cup (G1) last campaign and makes his first run since that outing for Ignacio Correas. The Super Saver six-year-old has posted a bevy of morning moves leading up to his comeback and intrigues me with Irad Ortiz, Jr. taking the reins. I think that he is fit and ready to run. 

#5 Money Supply (9-2) has bagged five races in succession and has surely never been better. Claimed for $35,000 in the summer, the son of Practical Joke scored in the Mineshaft most recently and might get a better pace scenario to work with in this endeavor, too. The talented late runner can excel on any type of dirt oval and gets Tyler Gaffalione to retain the ride. 

And #1 Red Route One (6-1) is a stout one-run closer with a great draw on the rail, and there is a chance that the pace completely falls apart in this one, so I’ll toss him in as well with Joel Rosario in the controls.