A year after their last meeting, Frosted Grace and Touchuponastar throw down again in the $400,000 Steve Sexton Mile (G3), one of six stakes at Lone Star Park on Memorial Day, May 27.
In the 2023 renewal of the Steve Sexton Mile, Flying P Stable’s Frosted Grace came out on top, running down Louisiana-bred standout Touchuponastar by 1 1/2 lengths after the latter dueled for the early lead. In this year’s race, Touchuponastar faces a potential challenge early from grade 2 winner Everso Mischievous , who is rail-drawn and fresh since running 11th in the Cigar Mile (G2) last fall.
Those three runners would appear to be the favorites in the two-turn mile race, which begins and ends in front of the stands.
Other entrants include stakes winners Presidential , Lure Him In , Silver Prospector , and multiple stakes-placed runners Heroic Move and Denington .
Frosted Grace, who won the 2023 Steve Sexton Mile for trainer Robertino Diodoro, is now in the care of Kentucky-based trainer Mike Maker. In only one prior start for Maker, he won the March 30 Oaklawn Mile (G3) in Arkansas, outrunning Silver Prospector, the 2022 Steve Sexton Mile winner, by 1 1/2 lengths.
Video: Oaklawn Mile S. (G3)
Ramon Vazquez, aboard in that race and a Jan. 13 victory in the $62,500 claiming ranks for Diodoro, returns in the irons on the 8-year-old Mark Valeski horse, an earner of more than $1.1 million
Frosted Grace’s Main Challengers
Timothy Thornton takes his customary seat aboard Touchuponastar, who, after running second in a fast-paced New Orleans Stakes (G2) at 1 1/8 miles in Louisiana, took the May 4 Evangeline Classic as an overwhelming favorite in his most recent outing. Jeff Delhomme trains the 5-year-old Star Guitar gelding for his family’s Set-Hut ownership group.
Cristian Torres, who won the Steve Sexton Mile last year on Frosted Grace, is on Everso Mischievous this year for trainer Brad Cox and owner Qatar Racing. The Into Mischief 4-year-old colt captured the one-mile Forty Niner Stakes (G2) last fall around one turn during the Belmont at the Big A meet before disappointing with a troubled trip over a muddy track in the Cigar Mile.
Saturday’s race honors the late Steve Sexton, as it has since 2017 when it was renamed from the Texas Mile. A popular Lone Star Park executive, Sexton held management positions at Churchill Downs before his death in 2016.
The race became the first Thoroughbred graded stakes in Texas in 1999.
The Undercard
Five other stakes are on Monday’s program: the $300,000 Texas Derby, $200,000 Ouija Board Distaff, $100,000 Chamberlain Bridge Stakes, $100,000 Memorial Day Sprint, and the $100,000 Speightstown Sprint.
The 1 1/16-mile Texas Derby drew a contentious field from around the country led by Turf Paradise Derby winner E J Won The Cup , most recently third in the Santa Anita Derby (G1), and Bath House Row Stakes winner Informed Patriot .
Entries: Steve Sexton Mile S. (G3)
Lone Star Park, Monday, May 27, 2024, Race 11
- Grade III
- 1m
- Dirt
- $400,000
- 3 yo’s & up
- 6:37 PM (local)
Entries: Texas Derby
Lone Star Park, Monday, May 27, 2024, Race 10
- STK
- 1 1/16m
- Dirt
- $300,000
- 3 yo
- 5:55 PM (local)
