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.
In the straight he moved up again to overtake the leader Norwick inside the final quarter mile but was immediately overtaken by Golden Fleece.
[5] On his next appearance, Touching Wood recorded his first win when taking the Welsh Derby at Chepstow on 6 July from Diamond Shoal and Zilos.
In their book A Century of Champions, John Randall and Tony Morris rated Touching Wood an "inferior" St Leger winner.
"It was a beautiful autumn day on Wednesday so after I had spent an hour with him the vet put him to sleep and we buried him alongside our other old favourite, Grosvenor."