Touchwoodexpress

Both of those wins have come at Class 5 level, which is where the yard pitches Touchwoodexpress most often. In those races specifically, the record reads 2 wins from 9 attempts — that is a 22% win rate, or just over 1 in every 4 — which is genuinely respectable. Find the right race at the right level, and this horse knows what to do. The first win came at Huntingdon in October 2024, and the most recent at Newton Abbot in September 2025, nine months ago now. Two different tracks, two different moments — which suggests the wins were earned rather than stumbled upon.

Sam Twiston-Davies has been the regular jockey, partnering Touchwoodexpress in 6 of those 14 races and riding the horse to one of its wins. That 1 from 6 together (17%) is a working partnership rather than a magic formula, but it is a familiar one — and in racing, familiarity between horse and rider is rarely a bad thing. The operation behind all of this is the Naunton yard run by Nigel and Willy Twiston-Davies, a family stable in Gloucestershire that has sent out 62 winners already this season. That is a busy, productive yard, and having Touchwoodexpress still active and placing speaks well of how they have managed the horse.

The recent form — finishing sixth, seventh, and sixth in the last three completed runs — is honest rather than exciting, and the win at Newton Abbot now sits nine months in the past. But Touchwoodexpress raced just yesterday, which means whatever comes next is close. A horse that has already shown it can win at this level, in the hands of a yard firing on all cylinders, is always worth watching when the conditions click.