Touching Wood

Touching Wood
Racing colours of Maktoum Al Maktoum
Sire	Roberto
Grandsire	Hail To Reason
Dam	Mandera
Damsire	Vaguely Noble
Sex	Stallion
Foaled	11 May 1979
Country	USA
Colour	Brown
Breeder	Pin Oak Farm
Owner	Maktoum Al Maktoum
Trainer	Harry Thomson Jones
Record	9-3-4-2
Major wins
Welsh Derby (1982) St Leger Stakes (1982) Irish St Leger (1982)
Awards
Timeform: 91p (1981), 127 (1982)

Touching Wood (1979–2004) was an American-bred, British-trained Thoroughbred racehorse and sire best known for winning the classic St Leger Stakes in 1982. Touching Wood was still a maiden when he finished second to Golden Fleece in the 1982 Epsom Derby. In the autumn of 1982 he became the first horse in 53 years to win both the St Leger Stakes and the Irish St Leger and was the first classic winner owned by a member of the Maktoum family. He was retired to stud and had some success as a sire of winners before his death in New Zealand in 2004.

Touching Wood was a small, dark brown horse bred by the Pin Oak Farm of Versailles, Kentucky. He was sired by Roberto, an American-bred horse who won the Epsom Derby and the inaugural Benson and Hedges Gold Cup as a three-year-old in 1972. At stud, Roberto sired many important winners including Sunshine Forever, Real Shadai, At Talaq, Lear Fan, Kris S. and Dynaformer. Touching Wood's dam was the American mare Mandera, whose own mother Foolish One, was a half-sister of Bold Ruler. Mandera raced in Europe where she won the Princess Royal Stakes at Ascot Racecourse in 1973 before returning to the land of her birth to become a broodmare. Her other descendants include the 1000 Guineas winner Speciosa.