Touchstone

Touchstone (1831-1861) was a good British bred Thoroughbred racehorse and a Leading sire in Great Britain & Ireland on four occasions. He was owned and bred by Robert Grosvenor, 1st Marquess of Westminster. He was brown colt, foaled in 1831, by Camel, his dam was the good broodmare, Banter, by Master Henry. Touchstone was a full brother to the St. Leger Stakes winner, Launcelot (br c 1837). Touchstone was a frail foal with badly turned hocks that caused him to travel wide when moving. He measured 15 hands 2 inches and had strong hindquarters. An unusual feature of Touchstone was the fact that he had 19 dorsal vertebrae and a segment of a nineteenth rib on each side, which contributed to his long back

He was conditioned for racing by the preeminent trainer of the day, John Scott. Touchstone's most important win as a three-year-old came in the 1834 classic, the St. Leger Stakes. He went on to win two Doncaster Cups and two Ascot Gold Cups, retiring having won fifteen of his twenty starts, including six walk-overs

Touchstone was initially retired to stud duty at Moor Park, near Rickmansworth in Hertfordshire, but then was brought to his owner's Eaton Stud in Cheshire. A major success as a stallion, Touchstone sired three Epsom Derby winners and was the Leading sire in Great Britain & Ireland four times. Of the eight foals from the great racing mare Beeswing, five were sired by Touchstone.
His progeny included:
Blue Bonnet (1839) - won the St. Leger Stakes
Cotherstone (1840) - won the 2,000 Guineas and the Epsom Derby
Flatcatcher (1845) - won 2,000 Guineas Stakes
Lord of the Isles (1852) - won 2,000 Guineas
Mendicant (1843) - a filly who won the 1,000 Guineas and Epsom Oaks
Newminster (1848) - won St. Leger Stakes, Leading sire in Great Britain & Ireland in 1859 and 1863, sire of champion sires: Adventurer, Lord Clifden, and seven-time Leading Sire, Hermit
Nunnykirk (1846) - won 2,000 Guineas, 2nd in the St. Leger Stakes
Orlando (1841) - won the Epsom Derby, Leading sire in Great Britain & Ireland (1851, 1854, 1858)
Surplice (1845) - won the Epsom Derby and St. Leger Stakes
Touchstone died in 1861 at Eaton Stud when he was thirty.