State-bred and -sired programs in Louisiana, West Virginia and Maryland were in the spotlight over the weekend, and the while main events at Delta Downs, Charles Town Races and Laurel Park each featured heavily backed odds-on favorites, the results produced varying outcomes: A new track record, a double-digit-lengths blowout, and an upset of a Breeders' Cup-placed horse who had seemed like a cinch dropping down into restricted company.On Saturday at Delta Downs, Touchuponastar (Star Guitar) returned from a 4 1/2-month layoff in the co-featured $100,000 Gold Cup Stakes for Louisiana-breds, and was bet down to 1-10 odds in a field of seven. Jockey Tim Thornton let the gelding roll right out of the gate, applying pressure to a pair of longshot pacemakers while three deep for the first half of the two-turn, seven-furlong race.Entering the far turn, Touchuponastar drew away at will without being asked by Thornton, leaving a splintered pack behind with his next closest pursuers being scrubbed on for run while the 6-year-old effortlessly widened his margin.Beyond a couple of flicks of the wrist through the lane, Thornton never encouraged the gelding to kick into a quicker cadence, and Touchuponastar cruised under the wire in hand when he shaved four hundredths of a second off a 22-year-old track record, stopping the timer in 1:24.27.Bred by Coteau Grove Farms and sold for $15,000 as a yearling at the Texas Thoroughbred Association sale in 2020, Touchuponastar has been campaigned through his 17-for-24 career by Set-Hut Stable, which is comprised of a partnership between former Carolina Panthers quarterback Jake Delhomme, his father, Jerry, and Jake's brother, Jeff, who trains.In his second career start back in 2022, Touchuponastar broke his maiden in a state-bred race by 21 1/4 lengths, and he has been running amok over Louisiana-restricted company ever since, including what is now 12 consecutive victories in state-bred stakes (after running third in his first stakes start right out of the maiden ranks).But his $1,520,000 in earnings also includes a very respectable 4-for-5 lifetime in-the-money mark in open, graded stakes.Back in March, Touchuponastar earned a 6-1 victory in the GII New Orleans Classic over 'TDN Rising Star, presented by Hagyard' and 3-year-old champion Sierra Leone (Gun Runner), who was third in his 4-year-old debut and is now among the favorites to defend his title in the GI Breeders' Cup Classic.14 1/4-length blowoutAt Charles Town, Teachintherelease (Windsor Castle), who was claimed for $20,000 in mid-2024 and has since gone on to add four West Virginia-bred stakes to his lifetime record of 14-for-32, asserted himself at the front of the 10-horse field and waited until the third and final turn of the nine-furlong race to split the $300,000 Sam Huff West Virginia Breeders' Classic Stakes wide open at 1-10 odds, scoring by 14 1/4 gaudy lengths in 1:52.67.Carlos Lopez rode the 5-year-old gelding for trainer Stephen Murdock and owner Robert Cole Jr.Teachintherelease was bred by John Casey, who had owned and trained the dam, Romantic Cork, a two-time victress in stakes on the West Virginia Breeders' Classic cards in 2016 and 2017.96 Beyer BreakoutAt Laurel, the 6-1 upset by Barbadian Runner (Barbados) over the 1-10 Post Time (Frosted) in Saturday's $150,000 Maryland Million Classic Stakes had a lot to do with pace tactics that swung the balance of the race in favor of the longer shot.But don't dismiss the effort by the winning 3-year-old as a fluke, because the Henry Walters trainee has been quietly building an upward sophomore arc that signals he is capable of competing in select open-company stakes after the breakout performance (96 Beyer Speed Figure) against his older, GI Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile-placed rival.The win was Barbadian Runner's first attempt at nine furlongs, and jockey Forest Boyce gave the Shamrock Farm-bred gelding every chance to excel in the six-horse race by saving ground and staying in touch with tepid early fractions of :24.98, :50.31 and 1:15.14.By contrast, Sheldon Russell opted for a back-of-the-pack placement for Post Time, but the late-striding gray's seeming class advantage wasn't enough to overcome being so far behind the lethargic tempo.By the time Post Time started to unwind with his characteristic top-of-stretch stretch torque, Barbadian Runner had already darted to the outside of the tiring leader they were both gunning for, building better momentum to collar Post Time at the sixteenth pole, finishing up in 1:51.09.Back in January and February, Barbadian Runner had won a pair of $100,000 open stakes at Laurel that briefly put him in consideration for other possible prep races for the GI Kentucky Derby.But Walters and owner AJ Will Win Stables opted for a mid-Atlantic spring, summer and fall campaign instead, and that more realistic path paid dividends in the form of victories in the off-turf May 31 $90,000 Jersey Derby at Monmouth Park and the Aug. 22 $500,000 Robert Hilton Memorial Stakes at Charles Town, with three second-place finishes in other stakes in between.In that open Charles Town stakes prior to the Maryland Million, the 9-1 Barbadian Runner ended up finishing ahead of the two favorites in that race–Neoequous (Neolithic) and Owen Almighty (Speightstown)–who had been both near the front of a sacrificial pace in the Kentucky Derby.And now, a month and a half later, in what was also his first start against older horses, Barbadian Runner has beaten a much more seasoned 5-year-old whose past-performance cut includes eight in-the-money finishes in graded stakes and five races where Post Time had earned a triple-digit Beyer figure.The post The Week in Review: State-Bred Results Yielding Intriguing Results appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.