Just a Touch Eyes Elusive Stakes Title in Grade 3 Louisiana
NEW ORLEANS (Jan. 12, 2025) — Tabbed as the 8-5 morning-line favorite, Just a Touch leads a field of eight older males entered in the Grade 3 $175,000 Louisiana Stakes presented by Hagyard on Road to the Derby Day at Fair Grounds Race Course & Slots.
One of six stakes races on the 13-race program, the Louisiana is slated as Race 12 and serves as the fourth leg of the Estimated $750,000 All-Stakes Pick 5 which concludes with the Grade 3 $250,000 Lecomte Stakes. First post is noon CT.
Owned by Qatar Racing and Marc Detampel, Just a Touch has placed in four graded stakes but remains in search of his first stakes victory. The lightly raced 4-year-old, trained by Brad Cox, returns to Fair Grounds, where two of his three career wins have come. Irad Ortiz Jr. takes the mount and will guide Just a Touch from post 8.
Rattling off four wins from his last six starts, including last out in November’s Cherokee Mile at Churchill Downs, Town and Country Racing’s Moonlight returns to Fair Grounds for trainer Chris Block. Coming from the back of the 11-horse pack in the Cherokee, Moonlight ran down the race leader and 6-5 favorite Dragoon Guard. Aboard for three of his 4-year-old wins, Jose Ortiz returns to pilot Moonlight from the rail.
Finishing powerfully when winning two of his lifetime three starts, Repole Stable and Spendthrift Farm’s upstart 4-year-old Accelerize will get his first class test in the Louisiana. Trained by Todd Pletcher, Accelerize ships in from Palm Beach Downs alongside stablemate Jackson Hole, a $1.3 million purchase who won his debut in December and is entered in an undercard allowance with potential Kentucky Derby implications.
Here is the complete field for the Grade 3 $175,000 Louisiana Stakes presented by Hagyard from the rail out with jockey, trainer, and morning line odds:
Moonlight (Jose Ortiz, Chris Block, 9-2)
Henro (Marcelino Pedroza Jr., Chris Hartman, 20-1
Cadet Corps (Paco Lopez, Kelly Breen, 8-1)
Accelerize (Flavien Prat, Todd Pletcher, 8-1)
Sir Greylind (Brian Hernandez Jr., Kenny McPeek, 5-1)
Tarantino (Ben Curtis, Peter Eurton, 12-1)
Willy D’s (Ricardo Santana Jr., Mike Maker, 4-1)
Just a Touch (Irad Ortiz Jr., Brad Cox, 8-5)
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About Fair Grounds Race Course & Slots
Fair Grounds Race Course & Slots, one of the nation’s oldest racetracks, has been in operation since 1872. Located in New Orleans, La, Fair Grounds, which is owned by Churchill Downs Incorporated (NASDAQ Global Select Market: CHDN), also operates a slot-machine gaming facility and 13 off-track betting parlors throughout Southeast Louisiana. The 154th Thoroughbred Racing Season–highlighted by the 113th running of the Louisiana Derby–will run from Nov. 20, 2025 through March 22, 2026. More information is available online at www.fgno.com.
