Betting With, and Against, Who Took the Money in the Champions Day Turf S.

A total of nine Cajun-bred runners, one of which is entered for the main track only, will travel 1 1/16 miles on the Fair Grounds lawn in Saturday’s $100,000 Louisiana Champions Day Turf S. The one to beat is defending champ #4 Who Took the Money (7-5), who drew off by a convincing five lengths in the event last season.

Trained by Bret Calhoun, the multiple stakes victor sports a fine 9-for-14 career mark, which includes a pair of grassy scores from a trio of lawn attempts to date. The gelded son of Street Boss is a perfect 2-for-2 on the local sod and continues to stay in fine form with two wins and a solid third from three outings since coming off the long break in October.

Who Took the Money is a deep-closing type who is arguably better than he has ever been as of late. The five-year-old chestnut put in a maintenance half-mile drill in anticipation of his return to the green and will be formidable with his best showing beneath Deshawn Parker.

The Jeff Delhomme-conditioned #7 Touchuponastar (8-5) is the obvious main danger to the favorite while making his grassy debut on Saturday. By Star Guitar, the gelded four-year-old has romped to wins in three races in succession, led by a dominant tally in the recent Louisiana Champions Day Classic S. last time out. The bay is easily the controlling speed of the race and might be too tough to catch if he establishes sensible early splits while alone on the front end. Timmy Thornton has the assignment.

For the exotics, #2 City Park (20-1) has appeal for Eduardo Ramirez. The gelded son of Temple City comes off of a pair of fourth-place showings on the dirt at Delta Downs most recently, but he aced a stakes race at Louisiana Downs in August, and I expect him to relish the move to the lawn in this spot. The late running six-year-old will save ground in the early going before being asked for his best late with Joel Dominguez in the stirrups.

Who Took the Money – With

• $20 trifecta key: 4 with 2,7 ($40)

Who Took the Money – Against

• $.50-cent superfecta: 7 with 2,4 with all with all ($30)
• $10 trifecta: 7 with 4 with 2 ($10)